Ten Long Years
by Gray Aibou
Summary: The War between ghost and human has been raging violently for ten long years. Only rubble and tears remain, Sam has lost hope in awaiting the return of Danny Phantom, the boy who disapeared ten long years ago. Finished
1. Prologue

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**Title:** Ten Long Years

**Author: **_Gray Aibou_  
**Rating:** T…May Change Later  
**Summary:** The war between ghosts and man has been going for ten long years, and for Sam, it marks the disappearance of someone important to her as well

**Disclaimer:** _I own nothing._

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**

**.-.**

**-**

A glowing green scaled claw thrust forwards at Sam's gut, she gave a short gasp as she was catapulted against a wall of rubble, her chest heaving wildly. She looked up weakly to see it whip its head around to her, bright orange eyes glittering evilly. It approached her again, a cruel smile of satisfaction crossing its lips. She tried to push herself up, but her battered body cried out in protest. She lay there for a minute, her breath lost as she tried to recover from her attack. A small trickle of blood ran down her forehead as she tried again to get up. She gave a groan as she finally got to her feet, just as the ecto-beast came to a pounding run, its scaled feet smashing against the rubble ground

She rolled, just to the side as the creature smashed its set of pearly white horns into where she stood only a moment ago, driving them deep into a crumbling wall. She grasped her arm with a gruff intake of breath, staring at the creature with a surge of hatred.

She bent down and picked up her anti-ectoplasm gun, which was lying by her feet. She grasped it angrily as the creature struggled desperately to get its horns out of the wall. It roared and flicked its spiky tail as a final resort, which whipped through the air and barely missed her face.

Then she clicked the gun, and winced at the cries of the ghost as its every fiber was ripped to shreds in a glorious arc of blue light that lit up her face and blinded her eyes. She released the trigger slowly and shakily, staring at the puddle of carnage she created, she gave a short gasp as she tried to walk again, and realised one of her ribs were broken. She had a broken toe once when she was eight; it hurt a little when it first happened, then after hours it got agonizing. She didn't like the thought of that at all; she was miles away from head quarters, or any form of hospitable living quarters…and she was in the Grey Zone, the ghost territory.

She gazed upwards at the dark looming crumbled buildings, shadows, imprints of a society long ago. War had torn the buildings down into dust, only their hulking frames remained, ravaged by time and fighting.

It was night, a very cold night at that. She could feel cold biting at her bare shoulders; she could see her silver breath puff out before her very eyes in white beauty. The stars were blocked off by long looming black clouds, and she was alone, all alone in the dark silence. With a broken rib and thin material on her in the freezing cold

She tapped her ear piece and tried to speak into it

"HQ? Do you read me, over?" She muttered clearly into her ear, holding the com piece with her black nailed fingers. Dismay came over her as all she received was distorted buzzing. She tried three more times…then nothing

She gave an exasperated sigh, still clutching her right side with trembling and numb fingertips. Her violet eyes flickered and surveyed her surroundings; there was nothing that would make good living quarters, no shielding from the elements

She decided to try her ear piece one last time, a vein attempt, she knew

"HQ do you read-" She was cut off as something swift and dark grabbed her shoulders and threw her into a wall, she gave a cry of agony and protest as her ribs exploded in agony. She was curled slightly against the wall as she looked forward through stinging eyes at her culprit

Someone was standing where she had just been; she presumed it was a male. His long black cloak covered all of his features, and he was facing away from her. It twirled and mingled in the shadows of the darkness and hurtling winds, she could see two blades, one in each hand, gripped tightly as he stared forward at another ghost-beast, though this one was different. It was larger, more vicious, and a long set of glowing white teeth draper down from its thick snarling lips

She realised he had shoved her out of the way of the charging creature, ultimately saving her life. Her eyes swam slightly as she propped herself up against the wall and tried to stand, but found she couldn't. She collapsed down again with a small muffled groan

Her eyes shot up suddenly at the sound of charging footsteps, the second that night. Her eyes settled quickly on the running beast, and the man standing unprotected before it. She didn't have time to yell as it came in contact with him

She watched as in a series of rapid movements, the figure had swirled out of the way, leaning backwards slightly and slashing his knives straight past the beast throat. She heard it gave an agonized road and slide to a halt as its feet and knees buckled under it, it collapsed, obviously dead. Air was pushed out from under it, making dust and rubble rise upwards from the crumbling street and obscured her already foggy view

There was a queer interval of silence; Sam eyed her chest in irritable and sore pain, when she raised her face she almost cried out in shock as her rescuer was standing before her…

_But no one sneaks up on me?_

She looked into his face briefly, but it had been cast into shadow by his dark black cloak. Where his long baggy cloak sleeves had ended she could see ebony black, leather fingerless gloves, still gripping a pair of short knives that dribbled bright blue blood, her eyes fell to his bottom half, and where his cloak ended there, was a pair of black leather boots that matched his gloves, layered in brownish gray dust. He was tall, even taller than her

He seemed to be looking at her somewhat expectantly, and she could almost sense confusion from his not visible face. She couldn't hear him breath, she could only see his cloak, and shadow

"Thank you…for rescuing…me" Sam breathed as she ignored the tightness of her breathing. That was all she could manage to say, all she could think of really.

"Why are you out here?" A cold voice murmured from under the hood. An emotionless, smooth and coarse voice, almost icy, but unfaltering. She glanced at him as he turned to walk away, kneeling down and inspecting the dead ghost body. It didn't sound like he was casually asking; it was more of an _order_

"I…got lost whilst fighting" She looked down at her wrist, her map broken "I'm a member of the Gray Raiders-"

"-I know, I can tell by your logo" He muttered, his same cold and soft voice cutting in rudely. Sam glanced down at the obvious logo emblazed on her shirt then back up as he spoke "Do you know your way back?"

"N-…No" Sam murmured, lowering her eyes from him

"Then you'll come with me" he stated without debate, standing up as he released the ghost's head with a_ thump._ He stared at her with a stone hard gaze as if waiting for argument.

"Wait a second…" she gasped, but she stopped as she clutched her chest in anguish, she noticed his face flicker to her, almost with a slight amount of concern

"Are you injured?"

"Yes, I think it's my rib…"

"Let me see" He muttered as he stepped towards her again, his gruff boots grinding the gravelly ground as he walked. He crouched down by her side as she sat there on a pile of dirt and rubble. She looked up at his shadowy face as he slowly and gently lifted up her top, just underneath her breast. He glanced down at the black and blue bruise almost casually, and then lowered her black net top down again.

"It's fractured; I propose you come with me"

"I don't even know who you are" She told him rather bluntly

"No one does" He muttered, but this time very quietly. He hung his head a little, and then raised his cloaked face to mine "You can either come with me or stay here and freeze. It's going to rain tonight, and you'll die of hypothermia"

She glanced over at the dead ghost then back to his face as he weighed up her options. Staying here would mean she would have to wander her way back, freezing with a fractured rib and no way of knowing where she was going, going with him would mean company, maybe food and warmth

"Ok…But I can't really stand…" She murmured as he tried to haul herself back up again, but fell back down with a short gasp

"Then we camp here" He murmured briefly. He then got up from his crouching position, cloak twirling almost _elegantly_, and then he turned and walked over to some wooden supports for another building. With a quick number of slashes and hacking he had wood; he thrust blocks of firewood over to her without any interest

"How do we make fire?" She asked the stranger

"I'll sort that in a minute" He muttered as he continued to hack the wood

She sat there, realizing she didn't even know who this man was and she was camping with him and making a fire, she glanced up at him

"What do I call you?" She asked him quietly as she reached over very slowly and piled the wood together. He stopped chopping the wood and remained stiffer

"Call me shadow, that's what people call me"

"Don't you have a real name?"

"A long time ago, yes…" he trailed off, and then she saw him cut the wood brusquely, a lot harder than before. Sam stared at him with curiosity and demented fascination, her twenty four year old eyes alight

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"So, what are you doing out here?" Sam muttered, at last making some form of conversation they didn't have for the last half an hour. Sam was against having a fire out in the open, she thought maybe it would attract unwanted ghosts, but from under his hood she thought she sensed him smirk, and he made but one comment _'I can handle it'_. She had sat there as he piled the firewood together, lit it up with almost his bare hands. She presumed he had a lighter or something in his pocket, or some other form of making a spark. He had mentioned he didn't have any food, but he would find some in the morning, so she had sat there, curled up in the bare cold, trying to absorb as much warmth from the fire as possible

"I hunt ghosts, it's what I do" He told her in his dull emotionless voice "I'm guessing you're in the same business"

"I don't go out here solo though-" She told him with a note of concern "-We usually go in groups, _teams_. I came tonight with my partner, Jazz; we got split up in the fight though"

There was an unusual silence as 'Shadow' sat there, unmoving and almost rigid. Then as if to shrug it off he shoved some more wood on the fire and watched it glow and burst forth in orange flame, licking away like red tongues at the wood

"Jazz Fenton?" He murmured, almost bordering a whisper

"Yes, do you know her?" She asked him hopefully

"Once, yes, her parents were quite _infamous_ in the ghost hunting business after the Black Sunrise" Shadow stated rather breathlessly "I only heard about them in rumor, never met them"

"Oh…"

"I don't think you've told me your name yet"

"People just call me Manson, it's my last name"

She felt his eyes settle on her again, analyzing her with a pair of invisible eyes. It was almost creepy, but he seemed in the right place. He was sitting across from the fire, and above the glowing flames they cast jagged beams of light on him, but as if he had a perfect knack for it, he always had his head at the right angle so she couldn't see his face

"Why…do you wear that, if I may be so bold?" She asked him rather quietly

He was silent for a few minutes then as if arranging his words together he spoke

"I don't want some people to see my face, even people I don't know" He added as if in regards to her. His black coat ruffled a little in the wind, giving an even darker effect to his frame

"Why is that?"

"Its better people don't see my face, I have my reasons" He murmured, and then he was cast into the dark crevasse of silence again, unmoving as he sat in thought. Glowing embers rising up past his face in golden glory, Sam clutched her chest as a pang of pain resurfaced, her every breath becoming labored in the cold

Then, as if to make everything worse by taking away her heat support, it began to rain down by the bucket, large pellets bouncing of the ground and making clay dirt into mud. Sam gave a small curse as Shadow raised his head to the sky, observing the lightning crackling down in its familiar light blue. There was a short clap of thunder, and the rain fell harder

"You're going to have to stand" He said louder over the rains, but still maintaining his voice

"I can't"

He sat there, his cloak becoming soaked. He didn't seem to care though; he was just surveying Sam with his calculating gaze. Then he got up and slid one arm under her armpit and slowly, gently raised her as she gasped in small amounts of anguish. The fire had become smoke now, wafting up past them as they fought to stand. Finally, they did manage to get to their feet, she could feel his body warmth radiating off him, the soft cloak returning some form of heat to her shoulders

"Now walk" He told her bluntly

And she did

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_Ten long years…_

_Ten long years since Vlad released his ghost armies and set them loose on the world. Ten long years since countless innocents have been killed for his sick purpose. Ten long years the battle has been raging destroying cities in countless numbers…_

_And Ten long years, since Danny Phantom, disappeared_

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-αιвσυ

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**Authors Note: **It May Take A Few Weeks For Next Update. I'm Sorry.

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	2. Roots

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 2**

**Roots**

**.-.**

**-**

"_Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer"_

"_Danny don't do that, seriously"_

"_Why not?"_

"_Hmm, how bout coz it's ANNOYING_"

"_All the more reason to do it, Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer"_

"_Will you two just shut up for five minutes?" Sam exclaimed, breaking the strain of idiot and infuriating comments as she sat upon the rooftop. Danny and Tucker were behind her, obviously bored for sitting there the last three hours. She was perched there eagerly, watching with a pair of binoculars down at the street below her. It was night time, and the sky was clear, aligned with white stars and a silver moon. _

"_If you keep talking so loud the ghost's gonna find out where we are-" Sam, again was cut off by a long shrill screeching, like some sort of demented hawk, except this was ear splitting, and almost a hollow echo. She flicked her head around, just like Danny and Tucker had, to see the ghost they had been awaiting all night._

_It was perched upon the railing off the roof, a pair of ominous large green talons gripping it hard. It was covered in a few layers of eery purple feathers, and its head was complete with a long jagged beak, complete for ripping apart bodies. Its eyes glowed crimson red, and like a crown, a set of long razor sharp spikes jutted out of its head, a perfect unfaltering black. One would expect tail feathers at the back, but instead was a tail, complete with an array of its own black spines. It was huge, massive in fact; one of those talons was big enough to crush a human head_

"_DANNY!" Tucker shouted frantically as the beast threw back its head and let out another loud screech, then sprung off the railing and swooped forward, its long feathers cutting the wind_

"_I'm hurrying!" Danny shouted back as he dived out of the way of the attack; watching the bird like beast fly away into the sky, then begin to circle as it approached again, still squawking and screeching madly_

"_I'm going ghost!" he muttered with a satisfied smirk, the light blue rings widening and pulsating around his body in an aura of light. When it had died his familiar white top and blue pants were gone, replaced by his Danny Phantom alter ego, the long white 'D' emblazed on the front. His white hair fell into his emerald green eyes as he shot off the building stop, spiraling upwards in the air as the wind rushed past him. Sam watched in awe for a moment as both the ghost and Danny collided into each other, she could see the beast retract as Danny smashed it backwards, but it kept whipping its tail and forcing him back._

_Sam whipped her head to Tucker from the dark night roof "Get the Thermos ready!" _

"_On it" Tucker muttered as he fiddled with his backpack_

_She turned back her head quickly as she heard a boyish cry of anguish, she saw the beast lash its tail of offensively, and then saw it catch his face, digging its complete set of knife like thorns into his torso and neck. She saw him falter, and suddenly lose altitude, descending downwards. As her heart stopped whilst he saw falling she saw the scarlet blood oozing out from his chest, and the blank look of dazed unconscious cross his face. She heard a whistle like cry of triumph_

"_DANNY!" She screamed loudly as he plummeted down faster, colliding with the ground hard. She glanced back up in utter distress as the hawk like beast set its eyes on her, those hollow eyes, and red pools of madness. She saw a cruel smirk settle on its beak, and then it began to dive_

_Danny lay sprawled on the pavement, his head resting on the creepily cold concrete. His bones were aching, and the coppery and salty taste of blood had surfaced on his tongue, but still his weak neck lifted and looked up at Sam, looked up at the beast who was coming __towards__ Sam, talons outstretched menacingly_

"_Sam!" He cried as the two came in contact, ignoring the splitting agony exploding in his body he pushed himself up, and made himself fly through the air, tears stinging his eyes as he forced forwards. The beast knocked Sam back, and then clutched her in its over-sized claws. He was now hurtling forwards, ignoring all regards for his own personal safety_

_Sam felt the talons grip her waist tightly, she stared up at the ghost with anger as Tucker was knocked backwards by the tail, whacking him over the head and sending him unconscious too. Sam gazed up into its mad eyes just as it clutched her as hard as it could, she knew the sounds of cracking bones, her own unearthly screams of utter anguish, then darkness_

_Danny shoulder knocked the beast back, swooping down and grasping the Thermos as he did. He opened it, sucking the creature in the whirlwind vortex and shutting the lid. He let it drop from his fingertips absently as glided down next to Sam's unconscious distorted body, grasping her limp structure in his arms he picked her up, tears rolling down his face, partly because of his own broken bones and blood chest, but mostly because of his despair_

_He looked down at her black hair falling round her face, her violet eyes closed so gently. Her pale skin_

"_Please don't be dead Sam" He pleaded her, begged her, his voice breaking as he did_

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"_We don't know if she'll be okay, she has multiple broken bones and fractures" The doctor muttered as he surveyed his clip board "…But I won't lie to you Mr. and Mrs. Manson, it doesn't look very good"_

_Danny was in the next room, head in his hands, he heard Mrs. Manson's pure cry of horror and pain, heard her sobbing, heard Mr. Manson wrap his arms around her and comfort her. He could picture Sam lying there, covered in casts, pale faced, black eyed. Looking like a deathly angel_

_Tears ran down his face, he hadn't made up an alibi yet as he sat in his bed. He just told everyone he couldn't remember a thing, and bit back the pain. He was better now, it had been two weeks. He was still here though, his chest had an infection, but right now he didn't care if he died._

"_I can't fight ghosts endangering you Sam" He whispered, and closed his eyes, and floated through the floor, disappearing for good. When Sam did get better, she never saw him again_

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Sam shot up from her comforting little mound of dirt and rubble, awakening from sleep, forgetting about her rib and giving a small repressed gasp of pain. She placed a hand to it and observed the sky; the sky was clear now, unblocked by clouds. It was obviously just about to hit dawn; the tips of the horizon were glowing orange. The rain had at last passed them

_Them?_

She looked around her surroundings, judging by the ground below her window she was about three stories up. How she got up there she did not know, she remembered passing out whilst walking there. If someone were to carry her up all those stairs they would have to be incredibly strong. She had no cover; she was just sitting atop the roof, a small tatty blanket thrown over her. There was a stair entry near her, and old one, all the bricks had lost their paint and were now just an old shade of red. Her eyes fell at the side of the roof furthest from her, it was Shadow

He was facing the horizon, not moving. Stiff and rigid as he observed it, it cast a blurred amber outline around his tall sturdy figure. Sam pushed herself up, ignoring the pain and stepped towards him quietly

"Sleep well" He muttered, obviously not concerned or caring, just asking for the hell of it.

"Fine, you?"

"I don't really sleep" He said coldly, his voice layered with emotionless and icy tones

"Why?"

"When you live here, you can't afford to sleep" Sam noticed his tight fingerless gloves flex a little. She looked at him, not understanding

"Why do you live here then? There is society outside the Grey Zone-"

"I prefer it here" He murmured to Sam's utter surprise

"In the fear something could sneak up on you?"

"Yes, I went out last night, I found food in abandoned shopping complex" He said as if abandoning the subject. She almost rolled her eyes and nodded "Its over near the fire, Sam"

She turned around to approach the unlit fire but she stopped abruptly, eyes widening

"I never told you my name was Sam-"

As always, she was rudely was cut off by a roar, a long echoing roar she almost found familiar. She turned around in utter horror as there it was, diving towards Shadow, its familiar crimson eyes glittering with malice, its wings beating the air in ominous thumps and its elastic tail whipping.

_The sounds of cracking bones…_

Shadow didn't have time to turn around this time; he simply flicked his head unaware as it hit him…

And he slipped off the edge of the three story roof

Sam screamed, and reached out in terror at the still silence

He was gone

The beast turned to her again, the familiar red eyes gleaming

_Her own unearthly screams of utter anguish_

It stretched out a long talon as she stumbled backwards away from it, but her eyes flickered as there was movement at the roof side. A figure darted upwards, black cloak twisting in the wind gracefully, his arms by his side, gripping those familiar knives, except this time, behind the hood she could see a pair of _pure_ emerald green eyes, shining with anger.

It was Shadow

He was flying

He rushed through the air, his cloak still on his face somehow, His arms outstretched, tightly gripping his blades with anger written on his face. He drove his knives straight into the beast's neck and Sam turned away, wincing at the beasts splitting cries of surprise and pain. She heard a tail whip the air and miss, then she head the splutter of blood as Shadow drove the knives in and twisted them brutally. More unearthly crying

She thought she heard him whisper through gritted teeth

"_How do you like it?"_

The beast screeched and roared again and again, and again and again Shadow drove the blades in, wedging them around its neck brusquely. She glanced back, violet eyes surveying the two in horror. Finally, the beast gave one last moan and its eyes dulled, and then it fell down. Shadow clinging to its back, removing his blades and wiping them on its feathery shoulders

He got to his feet and pocketed his knives; she briefly got to see a black belt as she did. She looked at him, eyes narrowed in confusion and sick fascination. He stepped forwards, boots clopping sophisticatedly. He didn't speak; he just looked at her from behind his cloak. Pure green eyes glittering in the shadows of it

Then a long tail suddenly cracked against the air, curling around Shadow's waist and throwing him forwards brutally onto his chest, one of his knives slid on the floor.

Sam glanced back in shock at the immobile Shadow then picked up the knife, staring into the beast's crimson eyes as she did. She ducked a tail lash then crouched down before it, ignoring its snapping beak; she drove her knife straight into its forehead. It made no noise, no scream, it just died. Right there

She looked at the blade, covered in the familiar blue blood. She then went to return to Shadow, rushing slightly as she wondered if he was okay

And froze entirely

He was lying, face up, and sprawled a little. His cloak was still twirled around his lean body, but his hood had slipped down, she could see his leather covered fingers twitch a little in his daze, but what disturbed her the most was his face. The same familiar cut of ebony black hair, the same blue eyes gazing upwards gently

_The same face_

_His face_

"Danny?" She croaked as she dropped the knife. Her heart stopped as she remembered that tone of her voice, it was her old voice. Her old fourteen year old voice, full of hope and innocence, a time when she was naïve and her hair was shorter. A time when despair hadn't toughened her, a time when hope was still there. She couldn't move, she'd turned to concrete, eyes locked on him, the face she had dreamed off and thought off for ten long years. Something she would never lay eyes upon or grasp again. There it was, the untouchable before her

Suddenly aware that his face was in view he sat up, his dark face bearing a regretful frown. He pulled the hood over, casting his face into that familiar crevasse of shadow. He pushed himself up, and picked up the knife as he went, his lithe body moving a little more faster than he usually did

"I told you it was better you didn't see my face" He muttered rather quietly, no inkling of his previous voice left inside. It was an empty voice, lost of will and determination. He stood there, and began to walk off towards the fireplace without another word, dismissing her as if it were a casual matter. Her heart wrenched from side to side in her chest

Sam just stood there, her cold breath before her face. She was upset, surprised, but most of all _angry_

"No!" She shouted at him, rushing up to his side "You're _not_ walking away from me" She spat through gritted teeth "Why did you leave us!" She bit back regret as her voice almost broke, she felt her eyes sting

"I almost killed you" He murmured smoothly, still facing forwards as if in a daze. A permanent day dream

"That didn't matter! You left us with no defense from Vlad while you ran off feeling sorry for yourself!"

"I assure you, that's not what I was-"

"Don't _ASSURE _Me!" She shouted louder "That's exactly what you were doing! And where were you when Vlad attacked on Black Sunrise"

"Dying from a chest infection" He told her rather bluntly

"You wouldn't have been dying if you stayed in the _hospital_" She told him through gritted teeth. They were facing each other now, she was showing him the most betrayed and angry glare she could, while he remained calm.

Tears began to form in her eyes, she blinked them back furiously

"Take off your cloak" She order him angrily, he stared at her coldly, then with one hand slid off the cloak entirely, letting it drop on the floor

There was his face again; the crop of black hair was now longer, falling before his low electric blue eyes and down the back of his neck in a stiff feather cut kind of style. He was leaner, sturdier, more of a street fighter kind of body, his familiar Danny Phantom suit, long boots and fingerless gloves. He was wearing a belt, with two knives, dripping with the blue blood. He was staring at her rather icily from under his black hair, his skin an icy white

"Happy?" He muttered

"No, I'm not Danny"

"Don't… call me _that_"

"Why not!?" Sam cried louder, a tear forcing itself from her heavy black eyelid

"I gave up that name, I gave up everything I could that linked me to the past" he said breathlessly, concealing pain in his voice and resting a hand on his side as he hung his head and panted. He screwed up his eyes and gave a long staggering breath

"Are you okay?" Sam asked him, raising an eyebrow, almost forgetting her well fed anger

"I-I…I don't think so…" He trailed off, holding his head a little, but putting a hand up before her as if to tell her not to come near. "Look, I can't help you…I just can't" Then he quickly and gently lifted off the ground and shot away, grabbing his billowing cloak as he did. No explanation, he'd left her again. And she cared

And the sun rose entirely, dappling the lonely Sam in a beautiful display of red and orange, it shone beautifully, and silhouetted all the decaying buildings. Statues and reminders of the war that had started, the war that had taken everything from her. Shells and shadows of happy memories, of love and families, All worn to dust

And she began to cry sorrowfully

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-αιвσυ

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**Authors Note: **I Explain Everything Later. Don't Fret.

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	3. Clarify

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 3**

**Clarify**

**.-.**

**-**

The sky turned a sluggish brown, then black again, and the stars lit up like white beacons. She had no knowledge of how to light the fire without any thing to do so, so she couldn't cook any of the food he had scrounged for her, except the beef jerky.

Which was revolting

She chewed on the leather like salty strap and sat there, hands in her knees and black hair hanging in her face. In a broken piece of glass she looked at herself, her old, mature and toughened twenty four year old eyes, and her black tank top with the net sleeves, her black cargo pants and boots. The tattoo on her shoulder of a black butterfly, the dark area around her eyelids

The tears running down her face

Ten long years since Danny Phantom had left her life for what she thought was permanently. Ten long years since the Fentons mourned of the loss of their only son. Ten Long Years since Vlad finally released every single ghost in the ghost zone around the world on Black Sunrise. Ten Long Years since Vlad has been questing for world domination, blinded by his selfish desire. Ten Long Years since a band of rebels named '_Gray Raiders_' got together and took a stand. Ten Long Years the war has been raging

Ten Long years she'd been crying

Her eyes flickered forwards as she heard some movement, stirring slightly from her daze Sam stared forward as Danny landed on the roof, in his familiar cloak, dancing like black tentacles

Sam watched him kneel down next to the fire and green light burst forth from his fingertips, setting the wood alight in red flame, then he merely stood up and glanced at her.

"Tomorrow I take you back to your HQ, you need medical attention" And he walked away. She knew that wasn't his agenda, she realized, he wanted rid of her. Because she knew the truth, she knew it was the Danny that she loved long ago. She knew he was the boy (now a man) who could give them salvation

"Wait!" Sam shouted, ignoring her ribs _again_ and running next to him, she grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around so he faced her.

"You can't just run away from this like that, you need to _help_ us in the war"

"I help from here" He muttered coldly, all empathy gone from his voice "I take down hundreds of ghosts a month"

"There are millions now"

"Slowly but surely" He whispered savagely and shook her hand off as he went to stride off again, this time she reached down and grasped his hand firmly, he was tugged back to her, face to face

She thought she saw his eyes flicker green with anger

"Danny please…-"

"-_Don't call me that_" He hissed brutally "Use the _petty _nickname _your_ people made for me, Shadow"

"_Your people?_" Sam said in disbelief "They're _our_ people! They're against Vlad, just like you!"

"I don't fight with others-'

"-Why!"

"Because I don't want to HURT ANYONE AGAIN!" He shouted furiously, his eyes glowing their pure emerald green again, Sam's eyes fell down to his fingers, which were balled into green fists of flame, licking upwards viciously. She knew that voice, she sincerely recognised it from when he used to shout "Going Ghost!" Ten long years ago. But this was different, like it was unsure, it had forgotten how to shout over the years. Even forgotten how to talk

_Because it didn't __need__ to_

She imagined how many times he must have slept alone, wandered the Grey zone alone. Been on the brink of death, alone. She wondered how, so long ago, his fourteen year old mind had handled it. Wondered all the times he had missed his society, his parents..._missed her_.

Sam looked at him with queer understanding and sympathy, her violet eyes surveying his deep breaths, how he shuddered with anger and pain. She understood, he had become like this, the guilt had drove him into it, made him an antisocial and self loathing person. Made him someone else

"What happened to me…wasn't your fault" Sam whispered, facing him with gleaming eyes, tears running from them. He stared into her face, a flicker of mourning and regret crossing his eyes

"I wasn't strong enough to protect you" He said quietly, his green eyes dying down in darkness, his fists unclenching. She finally heard him give a long staggering sigh and turn away

"It was an accident" Sam told him tearily

"That could have been prevented"

Sam gazed up at his face looking down at her in shadowy darkness, she slowly raised her trembling hands and lowered the hood down, staring into his eyes, filled with on despair and sadness that had grown over the years and consumed him. More tears fell from her face as she lowered her hands and gently picked up his as if they were made of porcelain. She held them and tried to smile

"Not one day went by I didn't think of you. I was never angry at you, _never_, Not once did I ever even think it was your fault. What hurt me the most is that you left me"

His eyes narrowed slightly in confusion and dismay, his eyes were paler now, but the area around them was dark shades of gray, from loss of sleep, exhaustion, and lack of hope. He stared at her hard, with his stone like concrete gaze, there was a moment where the earth stood still, and then opened his mouth to speak

"Things can't go back to the way they are" he whispered, releasing her hands as if she meant nothing to him, as if she were poison. He turned away and walked to the edge of the roof, not before adding a final note

"Daniel Fenton is dead, you know that…" He paused as he hung his head "I'll be back later" Then he phased into nothing as she opened her mouth in protest. She knew he had gone, she felt it, and she stared at his outline, becoming transparent then shimmering away into nothing.

Tears continued to fall

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"_Sam? Oh thank god she's awake" Mr. Manson murmured with a teary smile, staring at her weak eyes opening_

"_D-Danny…Where's Danny" She began to mutter_

"_Daniel Fenton?" said the doctor, flicking through his clip board papers. His face darkened as he stopped_

"_What…" She murmured_

"_You were…in a coma for six weeks, young Daniel ran away after two. He hasn't been seen since. Were presuming he's dead, he had a nasty chest infection…"_

_Sam lay there, all of her body was exploding in utter agony, no matter how much morphine they were pumping in, but not all of the pain came from her wounds, a good large fraction came from what she was just told. She gasped slightly as she tried to raise her arm and her eyes strung with tears_

"_Woah Woah…" The doctor said, raising a hand as a stop signal. "You had a really bad accident, do you remember what happened? Tucker and Daniel didn't' seem to"_

_Sam sat there, images of everything flashing around her mind in a whirlwind, a vortex of pain, sadness, then black_

"_No"_

_She didn't want to. She cried _

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_Two long months passed_

_She didn't even see it coming_

_All there that appeared was a white blinding flash of light in the morning, then they were cast into darkness, and then hoards of ghosts, intent on destroying everything in Amity park. All led by Vlad, who's laughter rung out over the town, drowning their screams_

_Half her school mates died before her very eyes, moaning and covered in their own blood_

_And the whole time she had waited, waited for Danny to return. To do the right thing, to have a quick witty plan that would save them from untimely deaths_

_But he didn't_

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Sam lay there, teetering between unconscious and conscious states of mind. The pain was becoming unbearable, constantly aching in her daze. She laid a hand on it, and begged it to stop. She tried ignoring it, not ignoring it, moving into different positions, but nothing made a change in her agony. She could hardly breathe, and her sleep was plagued by horrible memory/dreams.

She was interrupted; her eyes flashed open to see the familiar dark face over her

"You were screaming" He surveyed quietly, no emotion in his voice again

"What's it to you" She muttered coldly as she rolled to her side, realised she herself was cloaked in a thick layer of sweat…and panting wildly. Her eyes flashed up to him with hostility, he just glanced at her absently

"I've been meaning to speak with you…"

He turned away and began to fiddle with a can of soup, as if deliberately not looking at her; he brought out his knife and loudly dug it into the can "About what"

"You coming back with me to HQ"

"No"

"Please Danny-"

"-STOP!" He shouted, then calmed himself "…calling me Danny"

"Fine, _Shadow_" She muttered, her eyes alight with fiery rage as she stirred a little. He cut a circle in the soup can then shoved it into a small metal bucket over the fire absently. He then turned to her again, one hand gripping his knee as an outlet for his anger

"I stay here" He stated determinedly

"Because of your sick and demented sense of _self-loathing!" _She half shouted "This is bigger than you or me! This is about the rest of the _world!_"

Danny stared at her from under the cloak and released his leg, letting his hand slip and his head hang

There was a long, long silence that seemed like eternity

"I will come" He murmured "But-" He cut in as he saw hope light up in Sam's face "-No one is to know my real identity, or I _leave_" he threatened "And I don't intend for you to ever see me again if so"

Her eyes settled on his in a small amount of annoyance and pain "What do I say to them when they ask personal questions?"

"My name is _Shadow_; I come from New York, or what's left of it. I'm twenty four, and I don't like people seeing my face. Its _scarred_" He told her rather forcefully

"Ok…" She breathed gently

'_Shadow' _turned back to the small metal tin he had placed over the fire and removed it, placing it in his hand and grabbing a spoon. He thrust it into her hands without a word

"Eat that, and then we leave"

"What about you" She asked "What will you eat?"

"I…ate before" He muttered as he put his knife back on his belt

There was a long silence as Sam quietly ate the meat and vegetable tinned soup, she ate it quickly, a sick sense of excitement crossing her

Danny broke the silence though

"What…happened to Tucker" He pressed casually in his smooth tone

"He became a real technological genius really. He helps with all our gadgets" She pointed to her watch bearing a digital map and her com piece "He's different though, sort of the _strong _and _silent _type…" She muttered looking at Danny, seeing the resemblance "He's becoming a great fighter too"

"And Jazz?"

Sam smirked "A real ruthless fighter, great with guns"

"What about…" He murmured very quietly "Mum and Dad"

She glanced at him with a small note of sadness

"They thought you died Da-…_Shadow, _they still fight along us, but they've really changed. No life in them at all"

She finished the last of her soup hungrily, placing the soup back in the tin with a small rattle

"I'm ready, but how shall we-"

"-Fly"

"I don't think even I can do that, the pain is too much"

"You won't feel it" He said absently

Sam glanced at him, eyes expanding in realization

"What you mean-"

"-Yes"

She sat there, staring at him intrusively. He looked very informal in asking this personal thing to her, she glanced at him and wondered if he was joking. Then realised, the happy side of him was _dead_

"How will you get past the ghost shield?"

"I have ways"

"…Okay…" She muttered "Just don't go breaking anymore parts of my body when you do, even if you do get into a fight…"

He nodded, and swiftly dove inside her, she felt like the blood in her veins turned to ice, and she shivered

Then she sank down into oblivion

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Sam landed on her feet gently, and then Danny released her from his hold, gliding out of her body and onto the ground, his swirling outline settling like sand at the bottom of the ocean, his black cloak twirling elegantly in the wind.

Sam staggered backwards slightly, but his arm blocked her and pushed her back up without a word. She turned to his dark face and gave a thankful nod, raising a hand to her temple as she stared upwards at HQ

"You didn't tell me HQ was the school" Danny muttered coldly as he glanced up at the metal plated Casper High. He glanced at the thickly made front door and the anti-ghost shield before that and smirked. He glanced at his surroundings, tall unmarked buildings. Not crumbling, no rubble

"We modified it a bit" She added as she became slightly dizzy, her lungs and ribs panging consistently. She walked forwards and pressed a small green button with her finger, then spoke into it

"It's me, Sam, open the door"

"Rightio" Said a familiar voice on the other end, Danny recognized it as Tucker

The door slid open in with a loud _bang_ and revealed Tucker standing on the other side, his older more muscled frame standing sturdily, hands on hips

"Sam!..." He trailed off as he glanced at Shadow "…And?"

"-Shadow" Sam cut in as she glanced at the immobile Danny "He found me and rescued me while I was lost in the Grey Zone, he wants to help our cause"

"Always good to have another Raider" Tucker muttered with a friendly smile he reached forward and politely grabbed Danny's hand

"I'm Tucker"

"Pleased to meet you" Danny muttered, and then strode past without another word, his elegant cape twirling in the gently winds.

"He's a bit…_silent_" Sam told Tucker, who nodded at her comment as their eyes followed him inside, set hard on his determined strides

"What's wrong with your chest?" Tucker muttered as he saw the way she was gripping it as she breathed

"It's fractured…I can barely breathe" She tried to smile a little but his look remained hard and stern

"Do you need a stretcher? Assistance?"

"No" She said with a false smirk "I'll be fine"

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_Every night, she lay down and prayed. To something, some unseen entity, he would return. She was only 14 when she had to kill one of her class mates herself, he stood, clutching his own entrails in his hands. Pleading her he would get to see his parents one last time. But she knew he would die_

_She shot him clean through the head, shaking and trembling_

_She was 16 when her mother was ripped in half by a ghost while she risked going shopping, 17 and a half when her father took his own life. 18 when she joined Gray Raiders._

_20 when she lost hope_

_Lost hope he would come back to her, telling her he was sorry, And everything would be okay. She lost hope he would hold her, and kiss her cheek, embrace her lovingly and stop all the pain._

_She didn't even know what hope meant anymore. She said she fought for the __hope__ that one day another child would be born under a peaceful sky. But she was lying, because she believed it would never happen. She knew that believing in something, would only let you down_

_She knew it well._

_She didn't know why she fought, maybe it was to keep her busy. To give her something to do. She felt lost, like the world had betrayed her. And it had_

_The leaning tower of Pisa had been shot down by large bat-like ghosts bearing purple riders. The Eiffel tower crumbled because its supports were worn away by explosions over and over. Millions of people ­– __dead__, Millions more homeless. A society destroyed, a world destroyed, all hope for winning – destroyed…_

_Her heart, __destroyed _

_So every night after she prayed, she cried, black hair before her dark eyes as she wept pitifully. And with every drop she lost part of herself, a silver sphere of faith_

_But still dearly holding on to memories_

_Of Danny Phantom_

_The boy she loved_

_Ten Long Years ago_

-

-

-αιвσυ

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**Authors Note: **Okay…You may all be wondering what's going on. I did drop a few hints here and there. I'll _definitely _explain in next chapter. If I can find room

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	4. Assemble

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Reviewers get cookies

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 4**

**Assemble**

**.-.**

**-**

Sam's eyes flickered around the familiar HQ, her old school. Random machines were aligned on the walls, each checking the quality of the ghost shields set up around the intact half of the town, some checking other parts of HQ. People strode up and down the halls, the same anti-ectoplasm guns slung over their shoulders. Tucker strode alongside her, and somehow Danny had already found his way to the sick bay through sheer memory, he was leaning on the frame with his head hung

He ignored them both as she slipped in, his dark face covered perfectly

And they patched her up and made her lie down against her own wishes.

She laid there, morphine slowly beginning to numb her pain. She gave a long sigh of relief and relaxed her grip on her chest. Tucker stood by her side, running a hand agitatedly through his buzzed black hair

"We thought you were dead Sam"

Sam glanced at him "So did I, until Shadow found me. I was attacked by one that fractured my rib, and then another that would have killed me if Shadow hadn't pushed me out of the way. He's given me food and warmth for the last two days"

"What's with _Shadow_?"

Sam stared at Tucker, torn between telling him the truth and not. But if Danny found out he _would_ leave, she knew it, and he would not return. There would be no reasoning with him, only anger. New anger…

"It's…his name, he doesn't like people calling him his real name, and it brings up _bad memories_" She muttered, half telling the truth. Tucker eyed her wearily

"Well another Raider is another Raider" He murmured as he closed his eyes for a second "Does he need any training?"

Sam snorted "No…"

He raised an eyebrow "I propose we test him, to see what level he's at"

Worry crossed Sam's face "I don't know-"

She caught the look on his face and sighed

"-Okay, Okay, but I'll have to speak to him first…_alone_"

Tucker glanced at her strangely for a few seconds then retreated out the door, sending Danny in. He obviously looked displeased and uncomfortable being so close to people he had abandoned and tried to forget so long ago, he had his hands tensed

"Tucker wants to give you a test, to see how good you are at fighting…" Sam muttered quietly

"What's the test" He said coldly, inspecting his black boots as he did

"You fight him" Sam murmured

Danny eyed her coldly "What"

"Look I know it sounds bad, but it's not. First one to touch the floor with their chin is the loser"

"Shouldn't be hard considering I can _phase _through the floor" He muttered sarcastically in his icy tone of speaking. He looked away as if he had no interest

"Not, so, _loud_" Sam whispered direly, her eyes observing the room quickly

"Fine, I'll do it. But if I'm found out, it's your problem" And he left the bay without another word

Sam sat there, reflecting on how much he had changed. A long time ago there was an era where he would laugh and joke; now he was an empty shell, distraught with sorrow and despair, his only purpose to fight those that ruined his life. Sam sighed and collapsed her head back onto the pillow, as sleep claimed another victim she stopped herself from weeping. It wouldn't look very good

She realized Danny was dead. It was just another being who contained her friend's memory and appearance

She breathed out sadly

And let sleep take her

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"Rules-" Tucker began as he stood in front of Danny in the padded room, his eyes glittering with enjoyment "-No _dirty _fighting, first one to touch their floor with their chin wins, no other weapons"

Danny then gave him a glance and slipped the two knives from his belt and threw them across the room, Tucker stared at them for a minute in apparent shock

"Fine…" Danny muttered as he took a few steps backwards

"You gonna take off your cloak?" Tucker called, Danny turned his cloaked face to him with a defiant look

"No, it helps me _win_" He said, whispering the word 'win' with great enthusiasm, Tucker raised an eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and stepped backwards as well.

Sam stared through the thick window in behind the metal plated room with surges of anxiety rushing through her; she prayed there would be a fair outcome

She leant forward, her breath coming out as a hoarse whisper in the dark room -

"Go…" Her voice rang out, and suddenly the two were rushing forwards.

At first Tucker was the starting hit, his long brown arm collided with the black cloak and Danny's stomach. Sam was amazed at how lithe Danny had gotten, ignoring the blow completely he ducked down, and swirled elegantly, bringing one foot stone hard into Tucker's leg.

The man stumbled, but regained his footing. Eyes glittering with shock and entertainment, bust mostly entertainment

"Who taught you?" He shouted over the muffled sounds of clothes and bodies moving. Shadow took quick step back, then forwards, and had suddenly locked arms with his old friend, but his head still bent down and out of view.

Sam acknowledged how good he had become at that

"I taught myself" He whispered coldly, and Sam's heart stopped as she thought she saw them flicker bright emerald

The two pushed back, Danny's cloak whipping around still, revealing glimpses of black pants. Sam shifted nervously

Tucker raised an eyebrow as they both lunged again, this time Tucker actually bringing his foot up to Danny's shoulder. There was a loud crack and Sam turned away, tightly screwing up her eyes. She slowly turned her head back, expecting the worst. But saw 'Shadow' wrenching Tucker's foot around viciously, the other man grunted as he tried not to flip

Then with one swift movement, Danny's arms rotated at the speed of wind, and Tucker was lying on his chest, chin resting on the cool ground. He groaned, pushing himself up with a small smirk on his face. The fight was quick

And Shadow simply walked away, the silver door sliding open, letting him leave his old gym. Sam wondered how he could simply walk through the gym, as ten years ago he had played basketball in it with his friends, watched games. It was another home for his past life

Tucker stared up as the door closed, thought dawdling over his face

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"-Sam!" Tucker shouted as he jogged down the hall, trying to catch up with her

She groaned "Please, don't tell me that you were not having a good day or-"

"I accept my defeat" He told her cuttingly. They stopped talking as they stepped down the hall, feet squeaking on the polished tiles. They were silent for many a minute until Tucker broke it

"You know…" Tucker began quietly "It's like he knew all of my moves"

Sam gulped.

"The way he walked…the way he blocked and could predict all my fighting techniques" His voice was filled with a false curiosity

Tucker's eyes shone "And I recognize his as well…and the way his eyes glinted green when our arms were locked"

Sam kept walking as Tucker, stopped, tears streaming down her face as she bit her lip. Tucker slowly turned his head, almost laughing to himself sadly

The silent hall made their voices dull

"Sam, You found Danny…Didn't you"

She went rigid, tears now falling freely. She whipped her head around, eyes glittering with watery grace

And she fell into his arms, sobbing and crying hysterically

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They were quiet in their dark basement, heads hung in shadows. They both felt the over whelming sorrow and misunderstanding

"I'm sorry…" Sam croaked "He made me promise I wouldn't tell you..."

Tucker rested his chin on his hand "Its okay…" Sam expected this comment to be followed up by another sentence. But he had merely stopped, obviously in thought. His eyes stared forwards absently, and Sam bowed her head

"I thought he was dead…for ten years" Tucker told her emotionlessly, and then raised his head to look at her "Where was he? What…happened?"

"I, don't know…" Sam confessed "He doesn't talk much anymore Tucker, and he's afraid of his past. Afraid of me" She sighed and shook her head regretfully

"We have to confront him"

"No!" Sam cut in "He'll leave!"

_And I'll never see him again_

"I'm sorry Sam, but what he did was selfish. He left the world on its knees while he fled; we have to talk with hi-"

He was interrupted as a few meters beside the two, a figure shimmered into existence. Leaning on the wall, cloak hanging from his shoulders, he raised his head, and Sam almost winced. She could _feel _the output of anger he showed when he glared at her

"I told you-" Danny said coldly

"-No!" Sam pleaded him "I didn't say a word! He saw your face!"

"All the same" Danny told her icily, standing upright "I told you that I didn't want my presence to be known"

The whole time, Tucker just stared at Danny, a hint of anger in his features

"Why don't you want us to know who you _really_ are" Tucker asked him

Danny was silent, but turned his dark face towards his old friend with contempt.

"I know why" Tucker finished for him "Because you left the _fucking _earth to fight by itself! And you were the _only _one who could stop him!"

Danny remained still, but stiffer, and Sam was sure she saw his right hand ball into a fist. Something then scared her, like something stirred inside him. Something she didn't know, something that capered behind his eyes. A part of him he was hiding so valiantly from everyone. She felt his anger

The three stood in a triangle, Danny and Tucker swapping glares and Sam staring at the two. The felt the tension, the emotions Tucker had wanted to release for many years. She had gone through the stage of hating him once…_once_

Suddenly there was a loud _bang_, a bang Sam had come to recognize as a beam of ectoplasm colliding with a Fenton-ghost shield. Her violet eyes widened, and she realized this argument had to be fought another time. She winced as another loud whip-like _crack _rung out above them, and Tucker glanced at the roof. The ground rumbled and the sounds of shouting and quick footsteps were heard.

The ghosts were attacking them again

She stared at Danny, wide eyed and pleading

"Please Danny, _help us_" She begged, and she wanted to seem desperate. If she was desperate maybe he would stay with her, help them fight.

_Bring back her hope_

He stared at her, debating in his thoughts she knew not. But then he hung his head and her heart fell meters

"I told you not to call me that" and his body shifted in shadows and phased away quickly

"DANNY!" She screamed, rushing into the spot where he previously stood angrily and betrayed. Tucker just gave her a disapproving glance and shook his head gravely

_He had left them again_

"Come on, we have to help them up there" Tucker told her, trying to seem emotionless. But she was good at analyzing voices, she did spend most of her teenage years rocking her head back and forth on an iPod, to 'System of a Down' and 'AFI'. She could sense his pain, and the dying hope lingering in him.

She suddenly felt overwhelmingly sad

_She had __lost__ him again_

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Jazz Fenton stood legs in perfect alignment with each other and rooted stiffly to the ground. Her fiery orange hair fell before her angry eyes, and her mouth curled in a hateful snarl. Her fingers wrapped around the trigger of her gun with her teal gloves, she triggered it, shooting a magenta-eyed lizard like creature off the metal structure of the school. She slipped to one side as a large ball of ectoplasm missed her face; her bright green eyes glittered with fury as more swarms came forwards

Another fighter beside her yelled to her, and she had to duck to avoid a large screeching hawk resembling ghost, rip through where she previously stood, again. She stood up for a second, raising her head in utter awe as she looked at all the bright shots coming from each side, and the glowing creatures swimming around the air like lanterns

"Jazz!" Tucker called to her, throwing her a thermos, one of the many they now had in stock. She caught it, and with her right hand held it up, sucking another hawk-ghost inside. Sam ran out from the school ghost shield, her form becoming green for a few seconds as she escaped

"Sam!" Jazz called over her shoulder "They're attacking the generator! It won't hold for long like this!"

Sam nodded, trying to forget her sorrows and fight. Light and smoke were enveloping her, she could barely see. She knew they were unprepared, and if the ghosts destroyed the generator, Amity Park Grey Raider HQ would be lost, and another slab of land would be under Vlad's dictatorship. She clutched her rib painfully, tears beginning to stream down her face as she ran. She made it look like physical pain, but she was crying emotionally, because her life was wearing down before her very eyes.

She whipped out her own Anti-Ectoplasm gun (AEG) and winced as her torso cried out in protest. She aimed it

Jazz dodged another attack and sucked yet another hawk-ghost inside her thermos; she patted it and smiled, letting her guard down for only a few seconds. Enough time for a lizard-ghost to spring off the metal plates, large claws ready to drive into her heart, spiraling through the air swiftly

"JAZZ!" Sam screamed from a few meters away, and as the lizard came within centimeters of her face, something behind her stirred, like darkness and light mingling to form something. Black wisps wrapped around Jazz's stomach and yanked her in closer brutally but quickly as possible

Everything around Jazz and Sam went still and silent, the world stood still on a knife. The creature snarled triumphantly as its claws came in contact with where she stood

And then it flew straight through her as if she were only made of air

Jazz had her head down, still panting at her near death experience. The ghost sprawled on the ground, flipped up on its back and licked its teeth with its tongue. It went to lunge at them again, but one of the arms that had so protectively wrapped around Jazz left her waist, flicked upwards, momentarily showing a black glove and white ring where it ended. The long fingers stretched forwards, shone green, and an unfaltering beam of emerald light hit the creature, where it snarled, moaned and died. The hand returned to her waist slowly and all heads stared at where the ghost once was

Sam watched as the figure finally took permanent solid form, and Jazz became particles again. The orange haired woman, turned around slightly and black arms released her in the night, falling by its own body's side. Jazz blinked, green eyes confused

And she stared into the pale face of Danny Phantom

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_A young Daniel Fenton wrapped himself in an abandoned piece of fabric, his long black hair matted with dirt. He curled up, and closed his eyes, his chest panging and stinging. His whole body shuddered from hypothermia_

_He pleaded to himself through the mental tethers of pain_

_He glanced down at his torn shirt, covered in grit and dirt. He stared down with fear at the enflamed circlet of yellow pus and scarlet scabbing now laboring his breathing. _

_He was alone_

_The night sky glistened, the heavens of his life. He succumbed to the pain and cold, his mind encircling himself in sorrowful thoughts. His fourteen year old body began to tremble worse by the second. He could vaguely hear the shouting, the screaming of children, the roaring of ghosts. He wanted to get up, but even breathing made him ache excruciatingly. _

_But he couldn't stay at the hospital. Sam was as good as dead, and it was all his fault_

_A small tear forced itself out of his eye_

_And he convulsed violently_

-

-

-αιвσυ

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**Authors note: **Damnit I didn't get to explain. Urgh, just wait I'll find a spot soon. Please review me, I'm hungry.

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	5. It's Been A While

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Kudos to reviewers:) … But I still want more. I always will, fulfill my thirst. Mwuhahaha. The more reviews I get, the quicker I try to update. So get reviewing. Oh and lazy people, I'm accepting reviews that just say 1-10, because I think they say more than written ones. So if you think I'm crap, submit a '1'. Okay? K.

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 5**

**It's Been A While**

**.-.**

**-**

Jazz's eyes flickered over Danny's face, more mature, adult and lean. But still his bright eyes shone with his familiar spirit, and his cut of hair hung darkly in his face. Jazz had stopped breathing, and her lips were still ajar as if she had turned to stone. His cape twirled as they stood, both eyes locked on each other's for the first time in ten years. Ten long years she hadn't gazed into his eyes, Ten long years he hadn't ran his hand through her hair. A meeting they never expected would happen

"I thought the older the sibling was the one meant to be doing the saving" Danny commented, and to Sam's utter amazement and joy, she thought she heard a mocking tone in his voice. A fourteen year old part of him that had still yet to die. Jazz still stood there, rigid and shocked

"_I thought you were dead_" She whispered, her hands trembling. She raised her soft fingers and brushed them against his chin as if to make sure he were real. Danny lowered his eyes, guilt flickering across his face. Sam still felt amazed

Suddenly there was a tremendous bang, Danny's head rose up while Jazz's flicked around. Another one of the hawk-ghosts had now ravenously hurled itself into the wall, and had made a basketball sized hole. Jazz's eyes, now becoming watery, to her dismay at letting her tough stance crumble, were set on the hole with fear

Sorry to leave her brother's side, she gave him an explanatory glances and then she suddenly grabbed the thermos and her AEG and ran as fast as she could towards to HQ, ignoring the whipping of tails around her legs. Tucker went to follow her, Sam sharing one last glance with Danny, who was watching the hole intently as if waiting for something to happen

Sam shot a look back at the hole, then at him. They were going to pierce through the armor any second, and there weren't enough raiders to stop them.

_What was he doing?_

She looked at him, and thought she saw a war of interests cross his face

Then he hung his head, his face suddenly looking mourning and regretful. She raised his arms up in perfect axes near his torso, and let his palms face the sky. Then, as if engulfed by winds, his cloak began to whip more ferociously against the night sky. The tips of his fingers grew a bright green, spreading down to his wrists. His closed eyes shot open, and shone the purest emerald Sam had ever seen them turn

She stood, mesmerized in his sudden transformation. Then he sprung up of the ground swiftly and with amazing grace, arms pinned to his side, but growing brighter and larger. He cut through the air swiftly, and arced upwards, high above all the fighting

And aimed his arms downwards, cloak still lashing outwards as if it were alive like snakes

And Sam suddenly realized

"GET DOWN" She screamed quickly, and all the other Raiders crouched at her command. If Sam had looked closely, she would have seen the pain and complete look of absorbed concentration in the phantom's face

And in a sudden pulse of green, a longer, wider and stronger beam shot forwards, swallowing up every single ghost. There was unison of roaring and screeching, small shimmering shadows disintegrating, a great spray of blue blood leaped through the air and the ghosts threw themselves backwards melodramatically. The green lights became dimmer

Then a still silence as the world became dark again

Sam, arm still protectively over her eyes, lowered it. She stared at the empty grounds before them, small puddles of blue and other shades of purple littering the concrete. She was stunned at the ominous power he had learnt, and quickly looked up to where he used to be

He was still floating, only not as gracefully as before. His cloak stopped twirling and hung over his frame again, his hood slipping over his closed eyes. His head was hung over his own chest as if he were about to collapse, but his arms still pinned forwards as if stuck. Sam heard a small muffled groan

Then Danny gave a defeated moan and fell backwards, his limp shape plummeting downwards. A horrid sense of déjà vu crossed her as his black cape fought against the air currents.

"_and the blank look of dazed unconscious cross his face"_

She only had time to gasp as his heavy figure smacked against concrete for the second time in his life and went slack and still.

Jazz lifted her head and screamed, not his name, but just a short shrill cry of shock. Her eyes, still watery from the encounter were now glazed with terror

Sam ran as Tucker got there, Danny's hood still amazingly over his face. Sam stared down at his head, lolled to one side and still in darkness. She knelt; worry and sickness tightening her heart again, a replay of what happened ten long years ago. She slowly, with trembling hands slid back his hood, just above his temple. She stared down at his eyes

And to her fear and relief, they were screwed shut as if overcome by immense concentration. So it meant he was alive, _thank god_. But it also meant something was deathly wrong

"Get a medic!" Tucker cried, turning his head away

So Sam was the only one who saw Danny's body shudder and flash like a TV channel losing reception. She saw his jaw tremble and then release in a long sigh, and his eyes became still and relaxed, but his body still shuddered from shock.

Then he stirred, blue eyes opening weakly

"Wh-when did you learn that?" Sam asked him quietly, observing his face intently.

But he didn't answer; he pushed himself up, beginning to shudder again. He slung his hood over his head and let it be covered in his safe darkness again. Sam and Tucker watched him, confused at his sudden movement

"I…need to go…time alone…be back…" He managed to say, and she could tell that him talking was hard. She saw the way his chest tightened and fingers trembled, his legs pressing together every time his body seized together. Pity flashed in Tucker's eyes

"Danny, wait-" She told him, but did it half-heartedly, because, as she knew, he would ignore her and phase away again.

And he did

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"_What do you have next?" Tucker asked her as she closed her locker quietly. She stared at him, young violet eyes crossed with a look of boredom._

"_Law studies" She muttered, grabbing her thick books as her friend leaned against his own locker._

"_You chose it" He told her_

"_Yeah, also didn't expect that I'd only write questions out a book for a whole semester" She groaned as they started to walk slowly across the hall. She rolled her eyes as she saw a bunch of bullies slamming someone into a locker_

_She didn't realize they were inevitably saving his life_

_Suddenly the ground shook, and all children whipped their head in the direction of the explosion. The world went white, couldn't see a thing. She felt herself hit the floor blindly_

_Then it subsided, and a long darkness followed. She turned her head to Tucker's crouched outline_

"_What was that?__" She whispered, there was a long silence as everyone remained rigid, same thoughts running through their heads_

_And then the doors of the school burst open, and snarling creatures leaped in. Jaws and gums flapping with razor sharp teeth, long elastic tails cracking the air like sets of spiked whips. They lit up the hall with their glowing skins; it reminded her of a disco, only a thousand times more terrifying_

_The people closest to the door were first_

_Sam watched in horror as someone in a slender pink outfit was snatched up by one of the ghosts and the sickening dull rip of flesh rung out through the hall. Over the thunderous footsteps and cracking tail, she was sure she recognized the poor girls scream as Paulina._

_Tucker grabbed Sam's arm and yanked her inside a broom closet as the creatures passed, and she heard yells of dying teenagers. She held back vomit as silence followed_

_Then Tucker was pulling her at a run, they darted outside and onto dark stone steps and looked up in horror at the sight before them. Thousands of ghosts, some on foot, and others in air, attacked in aligned swarms and groups. People screamed and cars exploded, lighting up the sudden darkness that had consumed them. Sam stared up at the one of the brightest ghosts, a ghost that resembled a gray-dragon, glowing and lighting up the sky with its white hot balls of fire. It stretched out long talons and swooped the air, crashing its tail into a billboard and smashing it into a thousand wooden pieces. On it sat Vlad, as if a king riding into battle, a cruel snarl lighting up on his pale face at the destruction_

_Then all Sam knew was running, for hours and hours with Tucker by her side_

_Stepping through pools of blood, darting past limbless civilians_

_Hiding in shadows_

_Praying to herself where he was_

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_Weeks followed, the fighting went on. Then most of Vlad's army moved on. Some ghosts stayed, patrolling the rubble streets like guards. Sam had come to learn the sky had gone black because of the dark energy Vlad had so carelessly released. Half of the people that weren't dead already passed away from hypothermia before the energy subsided. Tucker and Sam stayed together for at least three days, drinking dirty water from gutters like rats, before they could make it to safety. From what they heard the ghosts were spreading, and still popping out of the ghost zone. Conquering cities as if it were a sick game_

_And the only person who had the slightest chance to stop him, had disappeared_

_She cried about everything for at least a month. Then the tears would come no more_

_But her spirit shattered into a million broken pieces_

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Jazz tapped Sam's shoulder, rousing her from her daydream as she stared at the spot where Danny had just lay down. She trailed her violet eyes around to see the green eyes that resembled Danny's so much. She stared at the AEG strap slung over Jazz's shoulder, a symbol that all the fighters wore. A symbol of everything she'd fought for

"Where is he?" Jazz asked as Sam stared at her warily

"He'll be back" Sam assured her, and somehow she knew it was true.

But when she didn't know when he would be.

Jazz stared up into the sky blankly, and then a sudden smirk crossed her face.

"I wonder what Mum and Dad will think…" Jazz trailed off, still in her own thoughts. Sam stared at her and wondered if it was wise, then felt sorrowful to take away their slice of joy.

"I think it would be better if we asked his approval first" Sam said warily, standing up and brushing dirt of her knees. "He doesn't like his past very much…"

She felt sad again

And knew she would do yet another time after that. Because she was accustomed to feeling down, heck she was almost used to it. She may even be getting _numb_

She followed the other Raiders inside

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Danny landed softly on a piece of rubble, still inside the safe part of the city though. He shuddered again, clutching his chest sorely as he stared up at the sun rising. He gasped and fell to his knees, his figure shimmering violently. He screwed up his eyes and fought to maintain balance inside him

And for no apparent reason, he drew out one of his knives, raised it high, and slammed it into his arm. He felt a surge of pain as the cold metal entered his own skin, but it distracted him from something else

But not enough

He trembled ferociously now, body losing the inner fight.

He threw his head back and let out an animal shout of pain as his body flickered again, then his knees buckled and fell forward into a dark swimming abyss

And not knowing if the depths of darkness inside him were death, he didn't care. He dove for them, knowing inside them he would feel no more physical pain. His vision was tinted red, then faded into a dark scarlet, then black. He felt freezing, even as the sun rose up like a fiery red orb in front of him. His thoughts began to melt and become slow, all his worries seeping into the darkness inside him

His final thoughts, as his face pressed against dirty stone, were of a fourteen year old himself, staring upwards as a ghost bird cracked Sam's bones

In his unconscious he screamed like he had, ten long years ago.

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-αιвσυ

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**Authors note: **Purtay Puhleasse, Review me. Can you give me a scale from 1-10 on my story…I want to perfect my writing skills. :)

So now the story is falling into place. Excited?

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	6. Truly A Phantom

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 6**

**Truly A Phantom**

**.-.**

**-**

Jazz and Sam walked slowly down the safe streets. A few people slowly slipped past them, clutching tinned food and plastic bags protectively as if they were jewels. The dark shadows engulfed them, and Sam stared up at the large light green dome blocking out the sky. She shook her head and kept walking

"So…" Jazz interrupted "Where did you find Danny?"

Sam took a few seconds to absorb the question "He was in the gray zone, he saved my life…"

She nodded seriously as if she understood entirely

"He's…changed so much" Jazz commented quietly as they turned a corner, boots clopping and AEGs dangling from their shoulders. Sam watched a pair of boys throw a patched up basketball to each other, and furthered her feeling of sadness. She glanced at Jazz and responded

"Guilt has done a lot to him" She shook her head "Even though he didn't do anything wrong"

Jazz was silent

"What? You think he did do something wrong" Sam accused as they stopped walking

"He abandoned us Sam; he could have stopped Vlad-"

"Ugh!" Sam shouted as if shaking off some form of dirt "I am so sick of this 'You left us'. The human kind shouldn't rely on one fourteen year old boy to save them from annihilation!" Sam exploded "No one ever thought about how much stress that put on Danny! And when he did make a mistake everyone thought it was so _horrible_ that he couldn't handle it!" He shouted over the streets. She felt suddenly angry, fed up of the blame being force fed to Danny

Jazz stared at her "Love is confusing you" and she turned away. Her partner, whom she had fought many battles with.

Sam looked as if she had been slapped in the face

"Love is _confusing _me? I'm not _in love _with Danny!" She shouted, catching up

Jazz turned quickly "No!" She hissed "You were! And you can't handle that he's a different person now. He abandoned us Sam, and he could have saved us from Vlad, and whether or not he didn't want to, it was his _duty _to help us, even if he couldn't win. Fate chose him to keep the ghosts out of society; he could have at least tried!"

Sam glared at her, fury welling up inside her

"So you don't care if he returns or not" Sam accused her

"Danny Fenton won't ever come back" Jazz told her wisely, and she walked away. If Sam could have seen her from the front, she would have realized that Jazz was silently sobbing. Sam stood in the dark street; she stared up at the ghost shield, the AEG marks on the walls, at her own logo on her t-shirt

"This isn't Danny's fault!" Sam screamed down the street, violet eyes flaring "Maybe if we stopped blaming him and tried to defeat Vlad we might get somewhere!"

She ignored her ribs panging as she stood there, heart racing a tremendous pace. The morphine was wearing off, the pain becoming sharper

So she turned back, still fuming on the inside with rage

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Sam was good at silence, always had been. She rubbed her cold legs and slid under the blanket in her room. The curtains were closed, and only a dark moonlight filtered through one crack. Silence had always been her blanket, wrapped around her and made her feel safe. Silence meant nothing was going on around her, and everything was calm. She liked solitude, a lot.

She was freezing cold, that was the problem with being on a second story, the fireplace is way down below. She closed her eyes, and even though she was tired it didn't relieve her off any weariness.

She started to slip into sleep, recalling the past few days in her mind. Danny Phantom was back in her life…broken and cold yes, but maybe she could return him. Hope lingered in that cause. She thought about how Tucker was concealing his emotions, where he was now. Probably in the basement fiddling with the AEG mods'. She thought of the Fentons, who were probably updating their suits, but half heartedly. It must have eaten away at them, she thought, that their only son was supposedly killed by a ghost.

She wondered where Danny was now. Standing on a roof like a sentinel? Watching the ghost shield with those cold and calculating eyes of his. Darkness began to claim her

And her eyes shot open at a strange rustling

She looked at the curtains, which were now disturbed, twirling around and making the light in the room dance. She sat up quickly, her heart suddenly beating a lot faster than it had only a minute ago. Her hand slowly reached out to the AEG

"You wont need that" A familiar voice whispered. She stopped reaching as Danny stepped into the room from her balcony, her heart stopped racing and she sighed in relief, albeit embarrassed she was only in a black nightdress.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him, eyebrows raised at this abnormal gesture. His black cloak danced like the curtains as he stepped forward, hood over his face again

"I came to talk, Sam" He told her, whispering slightly. Sam paused

"Why…" She said cautiously, pushing the blanket off her legs

"About, _us_"

"What about us-"

"You blame me don't you?" He asked darkly and accusingly, standing a lot closer to her than what she thought was safe. She suddenly felt open to him

"No I don-"

"-Don't lie to me" Danny said in a calm whisper "You loved me didn't you, and I let you down"

Sam's eyes flickered over him "Danny…this isn't you…"

"Oh but it is" He whispered, suddenly swiftly grabbing her arm as she tried stealthily to grab her AEG. He yanked her up, eyes close together

"Such _anger_" He whispered from under the hood, and through it Sam was sure she was a pair of blood red eyes glow menacingly.

She understood, her eyes suddenly raging with violet anger

"Let him go, _Vlad_" She whispered, trying to release her arms from his dark grasp

"Don't you want to _kiss _him?" Vlad whispered through Danny's lips "_Hold _him one last time?"

"_Let him go_" Sam warned, gritting her teeth angrily.

"Aww, but we were getting to have _so _much _fun_" He whispered, then without any warning he pulled her forwards and locked her dark lips in a kiss. Her eyes flicked up and open in protest, locking onto Danny's familiar irises, but this time a shocking red. She yanked away in protest, trying to scream through her clamped mouth

He let her go, pulling his head back, a cruel animal-like snarl crossing his lips

"He was so _easy _to overshadow, not much of a fight at all" He commented, blocking Sam's lips from opening again but slamming his hand against her. "Sure, he struggled like a fish on a hook. But so _easy _to reel in"

"Get the _fuck _out of him" Sam told him, one last time. The thought of Danny being trapped inside a body was Vlad was sickening her

"So be it" He told her with a grin, and suddenly his bright red eyes rolled into the back of his head. His tight grip became deathly weak and he fell backwards onto the floor, but as he did another ghostly white figure slid out of him, fingers still gripped around Sam's arms. She looked down in horror at the immobile Danny who had thumped to the floor

"Oh look!" Vlad snarled viciously, red eyes gleaming as he whipped her to face the unconscious friend "He's not breathing!" He told her falsely, whipping her back

"_Maybe because he's already __dead_" He spat into her face

"What are you talking about" She hissed viciously

He snickered "When I overshadow someone, I can learn their _deepest _secrets" He laughed, teeth glittering. "And oh, what secrets Danny has"

Sam looked at him, suddenly sickly curious

"When I first saw him lying there, on the roof, I couldn't believe it. I was sure the ghost I sent for him finished the _job_"

Sam snarled as she struggled again, not wanting and wanting to hear his words at the same time

"But when I was in his mind, I found out what happened" Vlad told her, still resisting her vain attempts with amazing strength "Sure the method was carried out wrongly, _but the effects were still the same. _Danny Phantom out of my plan for good, and he died either way"

Sam stopped moving and stared into his red eyes without fear

"Danny _Phantom _is truly a Phantom. You see only a few days after he left that hospital…his chest infection _progressed_. Got a hell of a lot _worse_" He told her, obviously taking satisfaction in watching her horrified look "And without any warmth…that made it get even worse than that!" He exclaimed as if it were a hilariously funny joke

"Daniel Fenton _died_ six nights after Black Sunrise" Vlad told her, smiling at her horrified face "He died, and his last thoughts were _you _Sam. He thought you were going to _die_. That's why he left!"

"So technically, _you killed him_"

Sam's eyes brimmed with tears

"But he died, hanging onto a thought of you. So now his ghost walks the earth, fighting the spirits with the anger that you fuel. And now you're back, he's struggling to maintain a presence here" Vlad glanced back at the limp cloaked body of Danny Phantom "And every time he slays a ghost, it becomes harder…_and harder…and harder"_

Sam sobbed, not caring if she was open to Vlad. She didn't believe it, she was horrified. Danny Phantom, Daniel Fenton…_dead_…because of her

_NO!_

"You're wrong!" She screamed tearily "It's not my fault! IT'S YOURS!" And she kicked him squarely in the stomach, released her arms and grabbed her AEG.

Too bad Vlad turned around and vaporized it with ectoplasm shots

Too bad he swooped next to her and smashed her head into the bed side table

Too bad he cradled her limp body in his arms and flew away into the night

And extremely too bad, that Danny Phantom could barely hold onto life any longer

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_Darkness ran around her in circles, the sound of cold wind hurtling around her. Pain, agony, and sadness ripped at her soul. He was truly dead, Daniel Fenton, dead. Just as her life was beginning to brighten up the slightest bit. She had finally given up being numb, and crashed_

_She was sure if at that moment she hadn't been forced into unconsciousness by her aching head, that she would have sobbed her heart away for good._

-

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-αιвσυ

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**Authors note: **Okay, for people who didn't understand – Vlad unleashed all the ghosts from the ghost zone under his command, and while doing so he released black energy. So the day was called Black Sunrise, and then the parts of Amity Park that are now rubble are called the 'Grey Zone'. And Danny, as you now know, left the hospital after thinking it was his fault Sam was supposedly going to die, and because of the dark energy blanketing the earth, there was no warmth. So he died from Hypothermia

Phew. Lotsa words

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	7. Cocktails

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Yay I hit 20. I is proud

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 7**

**Cocktails**

**.-.**

**-**

_Darkness in somber waves of silver gray, Ironic, silver and gray were the last things he saw before he died. Ripples of shining white pulsed through his vision, so beautiful, but upon hit making the pain that bit more unbearable. Throbbing darkness engulfed him, all his sorrowful thoughts entwining. But he held on, now unaware of any physical presence he had. All there was, was him holding onto what thread of life he had left_

_He held onto it, because he knew Vlad had her._

_VLAD. Anger and rage pushed him further into what little light he had left, what stopped him from being consumed. He had been too weak to fight off his grasp, too weak at the time. But now he was driven_

_He had hope_

_Vlad had taken everything from him. His world, his life. His Sam…_

_Anger gave him the final push of strength_

_And he threw himself forwards into life, ignoring the strings that were trying to desperately to pull him back into the infinite abyss of death. He could save Sam, that was all he could so. He could not save the world, but he could save her from death_

_He had been there_

_He had been in death, and he had returned from it. He had seen the angel of death, even though it had no form._

_It was a voice_

_A voice…_

"Danny!" A voice swirled, becoming clearer as he was lifted into reality.

He opened his blue eyes, settling on a pair of bright lanterns covered by fog. He blinked, and the fog cleared, revealing the lanterns were actually Tucker's eyes. The soft fabric of his cloak brushed against his now freezing skin. And his figure shimmered again as he almost lost his grasp

He gasped in pain and anguish

_Must maintain, maintain a form. Save her, Save her save save her save Sam SAVE HER!_

"D-Danny…" A faint voice whispered. But he realized the voice wasn't faint because he was half-delusional, it was faint because it was disbelieving. The voice was smooth and familiar, and he brought warmth and comfort out of it.

He struggled to sit up, Tucker helping him. He stood for a few seconds, body shivering in a cold no one else could feel, then he collapsed onto his hands and feet, gasping and choking again as fire lit up behind his eyes.

A hand gripped his shoulder, a tough hand that didn't belong to Tucker. He felt his body being pulled up as if he were a puppet. His head lolled weakly, and he managed to lift his eyes upwards from under his dark hood.

And he stared lowly into the eyes of Jack Fenton

He was older now, and even though it only had been ten years he looked as if he had aged a life time. His face worn by time and grief, hair beginning to grow streaks of gray. But his eyes, they were deathly familiar, and filled with the strongest sorrow ever, only a sorrow a parent could have. But inside the sorrow, like a golden coin in a pool of murky water, their lay hope and love, that his son could have returned

"Danny…" He whispered. Danny's eyes trailed behind him, to see Maddie Fenton. She no longer wore her jumpsuit, only a gray raider's outfit. But her crop of wine red hair made her easy to recognize, but he would never forget her anyway. She too, had been worn by the war, dark grey bags manifesting under her sparkling eyes

He hung his head. He wondered how all this had happened, how he had gone ten whole years and now it had returned. As if he could not be rid of it, and it would even haunt him in his imminent state of death.

His parents stared at him. He thought maybe expectantly, for him to greet them and show them it was him. But he couldn't talk to them; he couldn't bring himself to do it. And eventually he would have to tell them, their only son _did _die ten long years ago. It would shatter them once more

Jazz burst into the room, orange hair bouncing as it usually did. She stopped, her body leaning forwards then springing back as she saw. Her father gripping a cloaked Danny's shoulder, and her mother standing beside.

"Is it really you?" Maddie asked him, surveying his blue eyes which were now lowered to the floor in some sick and demented mutation of shame. She reached out, like Jazz had, and lifted his chin with one of her soft fingers. They stared at each other for a minute, and then Danny unlocked his eyes and took a step back from his parents

"I'm sorry" He said, not really sure what he was apologizing for. He just hoped they knew what he meant, knew how he sympathized the pain they had to go through for years. But then again so did he

In the darkness Tucker watched their silent reunion with curiosity and pity, and somewhere inside him, resolve settled.

Danny turned to Jazz, tears suddenly in his eyes. He recalled he hadn't cried for ten long years. Since the day he died he hadn't shed a single tear, he was too preoccupied locking his mind on the killing of ghosts. And then he thought, he had locked his thoughts on the killing of ghosts to stop himself from crying

"I…need to find Sam…" He said, to all of them, but looking at Jazz as he did. He couldn't bear to see them any longer

She nodded grimly, understanding at long last

And, tears still running down his face, he sprinted to the window. Ignoring all pain in his body he kicked off the balcony, springing into the night air in a gust of cold. His body took flight and his cloak began to whip at the air again.

He gracefully sped off in the direction Sam and Vlad had fled to, letting the four old friends watch him go.

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_She had only ever loved one person_

_Dated one or two or three at the maximum. And they all asked her, they were the ones who saw her. Probably frail and weak, _She thought to herself. _Probably good for a hot fuck and nothing else. So weak and fragile she'd claw herself towards to first sign of love she got. So she drank with them, more enjoying the company of alcohol then them. Sitting there with a gun slung over their shoulder, elegantly trying to sip brandy when at home they guzzled beer. She saw through it, Damn she was good at that. Good at analyzing, shit she was great at jigsaw puzzles_

_Jigsaw puzzles resembled her, at four, sitting down in her living room and putting one together for the first time. She was naïve, thought one day she was gonna be a hairdresser. Gonna make great designs, make other people look and feel good. A time when she enjoyed her solitude, and with stubby little fingers clicked together the image of the frog on the Lilly pond with great pride in herself._

_Now she felt empty. She remembers her house, a nice front, seemingly boring. Inside beautiful furniture and possessions that her parents only valued for attention. Outback large vines that clung to the house like a giant hand with green veins. She had always hated those vines, always hated the house. Sometimes even hated her parents._

_There was only one person she had ever loved_

_School didn't annoy her when she was with him. Neither did herself. She remembered undressing at eight; she looked at the pile of heavy clothes with an expression of fierce wretchedness. This being before she changed to her usual black attire. In the school library there was always a stack of back issues from the real girly and trendy magazines and often she leafed through them, pasting an expression of idiotic casualness on her face. The models looked so easy and smooth in their short, kicky skirts, pantyhose and frilly underwear with patterns on them designed for obviously attracting males in the feistiest way possible. She wondered why the world had become so…corrupt. But with him he made it better_

_She didn't know it was love though. It was there, but she was unaware of it. It hung like invisible wire before her face, binding her to him without even knowing it. She enjoyed his company, __a lot_ _than any alcohol could ever achieve. She remembers staring up, demented shock and fear lunging at her and gripping her tightly. She couldn't breathe. For a few seconds, the thought surfaced in her that he may have died. For a few seconds mindless despair hit her, then her logic returned. Told her he would be fine, it wasn't fatal. As he fell, she panicked and regained control. Because she believed_

_He would stay with her_

_He would never leave her_

_Be with her_

_Forever_

Her eyes shot open, at first wide and alert. Then they gazed around at their surroundings, white and grey walls. Red lights shining like the lights of ambulances. Ambulances that she had watched with teary eyes from her hospital window. She looked up weakly, and was aware she was chained by metal to a wall, cold tiles making her spine tingle through her thin black nightdress. Her toes barely scraped the floor, and her whole body was covered in Goosebumps. Small hairs pricked up on her skin, trying desperately to coat her in warmth. Her eyes lowered tearily, to her relief and somewhat disappointment she was alone again

Hanging from a wall in a white chamber that reminded her of somewhere they surveyed nuclear tests

Memories swirled and settled in her mind again, and unconscious crept up on her and merged with her awake state in ripples. _He was dead_

_She had accepted him being dead. She had lay there in the bed, eyes set on the roof determinedly because she didn't want to cry. She wouldn't let herself cry, it was her mental tethers, her state of pride that demanded her not to cry. And after a month, she had shunned the thoughts from her head. Every time they resurfaced she focused on something else, until they had faded and worn away into the back of her head like vague stains. There but forgotten_

_But a few days ago, she had locked eyes with his blue. And the stains had exploded and become bright and vivid again, some demented and mutated hope had resurfaced and returned. She had shot up slightly through her cloud of sorrow_

_And now she had fallen through it, hit the ground and broken her heart. _

_The cloud was hope. She loved clouds, the barrier between worlds_

_She let a cloud of darkness swarm over her and take her into oblivion again_

_She didn't want to leave either_

_And like being awoken from anesthetic, it seemed like only a second had passed. She became aware though it must have been hours, because she felt thirsty. What had awoken her though was ice cold water hitting her squarely in the face and chest. It trickles down her breast and she yelped. Seemed ironic_

Awoken

She screeched in discomfort, writhing a little in her restraints. She stared into those cold red eyes, and her own narrowed

"Asshole" She spat into Vlad's seemingly ageless face. She kicked her legs forwards in a somewhat vague attempt to swing out of the restraints and lunge at him like an animal in a trap of metal. He smiled at this as if he knew she would, and her feet missed his chest by what seemed like a mile

"Sam Manson…" He said, and it reminded her of a Nazi addressing a Jew about to be sent into a gas chamber. Almost like administering a patient, but a hidden malicious and triumphant support to his voice. She grimaced and struggled again

"It's Samantha to you" She hissed, wiggling her arms and only succeeding in hurting herself.

He laughed, and his figure shook a little. Red light dappling and catching his white face eerily. She suppressed a shudder and maintained her stone hard 'hate-glare' she had perfected over the years.

"I love that face" He told her with satisfaction. "That face, so familiar. I've seen it so many times and yet it _still _entertains me. That's the face a pitiful _gray raider _will give me, just before I kill them. Trying to look strong but panicking on the inside"

And at this she actually smiled, because she knew he was wrong

"I don't care if you kill me" She told him grimly, eyes still narrowed

He laughed, and slowly flew across the room, his familiar cape falling by his heels. He looked down at a small panel, then down at the floor. She couldn't see his face

"You wouldn't, _would you_" He said, but not asking. She remained silent

"And I suppose the hate you feel for me has somewhat increased dramatically over the last few hours" He said "Even me, conquering all of humanity. Well _almost_" He commented, waving his arms and beginning to pace the room through the air as if mulling over thoughts, then returned his eyes to her "I still took from you, what you loved most"

She didn't move

"_Danny Phantom"_

"SHUTUP!" She screamed at him, trying to hard to stop her wellspring of sorrow to seep out through her mental barriers. She kicked her leg, in an attempt to release some surge of anger now pulsating from her heart. She raised her eyes to his face, his pale face, anger alight like beacons in her eyes. Hate bubbled up over the top of her sorrow like oil over water, and using all of her strength, she pressed the backs of her hands together, and slammed them outwards, breaking the metal barriers and releasing her

She fell into a crouching position, though not as gracefully as she intended. She swayed, feeling the pain in her hands as Vlad observed her efforts. She looked up at him, but instead of attacking him like she had previously intended, she merely stared at him

"Why, Vlad?" She asked simply, tears in her eyes "What are you achieving by ruining everyone's lives?"

He was still and silent, above her like a silhouetted sentinel, dark and unmoving.

"_Equality" _He told her darkly, but no humour or vengeance in his voice. Only a dark foreboding she had heard somewhere before. Of Danny Phantom as he was and is now

Tears formed in her eyes

Barely invading her thoughts, there was a sudden bang. A burst of noise that plowed into the thick silence. The two both turned, and saw that a metal door had been crunched down the middle like it was as frail as a juice box. A long jagged crevasse had appeared between the metal, and standing in it, eyes alight with hatred and fear was Danny.

But those eyes were also filled with panic, and he moved as if time was ominously against him.

Before Vlad could move Danny had sprinted forwards, his cloak folding over his figure and letting him slide away into nothing. Then beside Sam, a dark cloak unfolded, and Danny emerged from it. Eyes pure green and chest rising and falling maniacally, the eyes set on Vlad, as if warding him away with a threat he would take action.

He shot out his arm and wrapped it around Sam, inevitably touching her breast accidentally. She flinched at the sudden awkward movement and winced as she was yanked close to him and he prepared to disappear

Vlad merely laughed at them, long white teeth glittering in the red light. Sam rested her head in the small pocket of darkness between Danny's body and his arm, closing her eyes as safety washed over her aching bones and hands. Her ribs were aching again because of her rising heart rate, but in his grasp she was calmed. She was warmer

And as he became intangible, and as he kicked off the ground like a cat, a tear climbed out from under her closed eyelid and fell behind them. They zoomed upwards and outwards, through walls and towers until they were high in the blue sky. She hadn't been flying for ten long years, hadn't been in his arms for ten long years. She looked down at the black fortress; it looked something like a sinister concentration camp with glowing generators. She wanted to forget, so she turned her eyes to the stars. She though of the stars how massive they were, burning balls of fire that surpassed her body mass by the millions, the universe a trillion times bigger than them. If she was so insignificant in this world, a speck of dirt among glowing lights – why did she feel pain that could amount to the size of the universe? How could she handle such a burden of strong emotions?

She tried hard not to weep, and the last thing she saw before a large cannon aimed up at them and fired, Was Danny's bowed head, and tears flowing freely from below

_A fifteen year olds dreams, so warped yet so full of meaning_

"_Hold me Danny…" She told the boy, resting her head on the groove of his shoulder in her dreamland. Her walking world between death and life_

The large fiery shot of chocking pink hurtled through the cool night skies, gaining speed and precision as it flew like an arrow towards them

"_Don't let go" She whispered_

It drew within striking range of the two, Sam clinging so desperately to his side

_Please don't let go_

Danny Phantom whipped his head around a nanosecond before it hit him, and had just enough time to focus all of his energy into the Sam he cradled in his arms, give her energy to fly down to earth. He threw her forwards, and as the chain between their life forces was broke, all his energy evaporated into nothing.

It collided

The pink orb of flames smashed into his side, engulfing him in a beautiful array of red and gold sparks. Sam shot downwards through the air, her body suddenly gaining buoyancy in the air like a ball in the water. She gazed up at the explosion, her dormant wellspring overflowing at last. She screamed long and loudly as her toes landed softly on the ground like she was a feather, the sparks fell down and scorched into nothing.

Danny Phantom fell down, just like he had ten long years ago. _Exactly the same!_

The same absent and dazed look of unconscious playing along his face, but only this time his body flickered and zapped, phasing painfully between the two worlds he was caught in between. His cloak spun at the air like thin threads, and Vlad stared up at the falling figure from his fortress with a smile of glee

And then, his smile widened, as before the figure collided with hard earth, it simple vanished.

_He had finally let go_

"NO!" Sam screamed in utter defiance of what her eyes had just watched. She ignored the freezing temperature, the pain on her ribs. She threw her head back and let out an insane cry of betrayal, anger, dismay, sorrow, sadness, fury. All of them mingled together like alcohols to make a cocktail her system couldn't handle

She fell to her knees and beat the ground with her fists until they started to bleed

_I said don't let go_

_I SAID DON'T LET GO, DAMNIT! Her subconscious screeched_

Vague memories:

_Sam Manson (__**sucks**__ But Danny is gay, so top tha---_

_**My report on psychosis**_

_**By Sam**_

A title, a heading, a comment by Danny, a comment she had retorted back. Her subconscious remembered

More memories:

_In some cases a severe physical or emotional trauma can cause a temporary psychosis. The subject may even lose memory of their actions in this period, though temporary psychosis must take place after the subject has induced severe stress and pain levels, so is not very common in society_

And right then was where Sam Manson lost a portion of herself to sorrow. She fell forwards onto the cold damp ground, hands tossed melodramatically by her sides

And her body refused to function

She slowly began to die

_Relief…_

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-αιвσυ

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	8. Essence

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I am so sorry this took forever to update. I had so much homework it was unbelievable, then I got banned from my computer because my science teacher rang my father and told him I was talking too much in class

What a rebel I am. XD

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 8**

**Essence**

**.-.**

**-**

He had seen these lights before. Yes, he was sure of it. They swirled and swayed with human-like characteristics, he could even say there were dancing. Yes, the green lights were dancing, flickering arrays of emerald light in the never ending dancing. Mist crawled around the corners of his mind and eye sight, obscuring his vision and sending him deeper into darkness. He realized he was falling

His hands were sprayed melodramatically by his sides, they looked like smoke, as if the particles were drifting away randomly and evaporating like steam. Thin trails of his body wafted upwards and he lost more of himself. He once had viewed this as a sweet darkness, one that would lift him through pain and send him into infinite relief. But now he realized all his fears could come true here, and that he was being suffocated by the suddenly overwhelming thought of death. His mind quivered as if moved by wind, almost overcome. Almost being lost entirely again. He remembered this realm now, he had dubbed it the line. The border between life and death, reality and fantasy. A place where thoughts melted and collapsed into themselves, and lives disappeared. The world beyond – the ghost zone

He fell silently, not a single noise was made. Just the silent and beautiful dancing of the green lights, if he had tried to scream not a noise would have escaped. His eyes began to close and his mind and body melted into one spiritual being – a single essence, a single desire. A single powerful urge to submit and die, to finally be free from his attachment to the world. Now all the strings had been broken, he was ready to leave

…Except one

The thread that held him in the limbo between life and death eternally. If he knew Sam was still alive, and that she needed him, he would always remain there. Eventually, he may become irritated and being caught between two worlds as an essence, and finally become a rage filled ghost he had once hunted. But the thread gave him leverage and sanity, the thread kept him still and lifted him through doubt.

She needed him

_I must stay_

His spiritual green eyes flickered open and the green lights stopped dancing. They shook and trembled a little, then died down into nothing. Darkness surrounded him, but he had stopped falling. His body returned to him, and he rose up through the line, sound slowly returning to his ears, and breathing to his chest.

_I may be dead, but I'm not leaving her_

_Death shall not separate us_

He shot upwards at the speed of a charging bullet, cloak pinned to his body like a projectile. White surrounded him

Transition between the realms began

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This he recalled, was the painful part. But contrary to the first time, he eased through a little easier. The first time he had been suspended between and death for what seemed like years, his anger and sorrow dissolving him. When he did try to rise, it had been excruciating. Pain had grasped a hold of him and would not let go, he almost contemplated letting go of life. But the thread held strong, kept him together, let him pass through the veils of white hot pain and back into the land of the living. Now he slipped through it, pain making him hiss a little in anguish, but he gritted his spirit teeth and soared upwards through it all

And a few moments later, the world revolved in circles, white lights slowed and became stars on a night sky. A dark shadow became the ground

On the ground lay Sam

Her face was on it's side, eyes closed and trembling. He looked around, and saw Vlad, standing on the height of the fortress with an irritated glare. He stared back down at Sam, her knuckles speckled and bruised with red blood. He ignored Vlad, and fell softly and elegantly to his knees, bright eyes shimmering across her face. He slowly lifted her torso, taking great care of her rib as he did. He lifted her face to his, and she weakly opened her eyes

"I won't leave you until this is over" He promised, and slowly embraced her

The heart-filled hug she had longed for too long, too long…

She cried a little, ribs now crying out as if they were alight with fire again. But she didn't care, the hug seemed to freeze time. But a thought occurred to her

She pulled back, tears hitting the ground as she wept

"But then what?"

"MY YOUNG LOVERBIRDS!" An icy call reverberated around the night, the two looked up at Vlad, cape twirling in an evil dictator style of look. He rose up into the sky, hands glowing red with anger "I AM SORRY TO RUIN THE MOMENT!"

He paused, Danny's anger flourished dangerously

"-BUT IT IS TIME FOR BOTH OF YOU TO DIE!"

Danny gritted his teeth throwing Sam back a little in a protective gesture. Vlad rose up higher still, throwing his arms upwards. Suddenly, swarms and swarms of ghost rose up with him, all different shapes and sizes of evil. Danny's eyes expanded fearfully as the sky was no longer dark, but vivid green. Sam watched in horror as the wave of green grew so ominous that all hope they had for surviving diminished. Her ribs hurt too much, her head ached, and she could not fight. Not like this

And even Danny could not defeat this

They lurched forwards, acting in a mass of green. Vlad behind them and acting as the leader as he always did, the same dragon like creature he had rode on ten years ago darted to his side with the same familiar white membrane wings, and he sat on it like he was a dignified person. Danny felt his anger bubble, and he prepared to use the same tactic he had while protecting the school. He knew he was using his lifelines, and that more of his energy would be lost. But there was nothing else to do, he must save her

So he spread his arms on perfect axis, unseen winds battering at his body as they rapidly flew closer, screeching growing clearer. Panic gripped at him but he kept going, beginning to glow a solid green himself. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned back to see Sam, eyes watery and innocent, almost accusing him of leaving her. His bright green eyes looked at her for a second

_I won't leave you, until this is over_

_I won't leave until I have saved you_

_But then I must depart_

His hands grew brighter and a pulse sent Sam away again, she fell on her backside and stared up as they came within a hundred meters

_Be strong_

"_I wont leave you until this is over"_

_I will save you_

_I will be strong_

He screamed long and loud, a ghostly wail he remembered emitting his lips. His body pulsed and rippled like waves in a pond, then lashed out like an animal, attacking his foes through anger and fury. The ghost's writhed and thrashed their bodies as the surges and uncontrollable angry green consumed them. Sam watched as the unstoppable and rapid climbing green throbs engulfed everything, worry resurfacing in her bones

He kept screaming, pain and anger his fuel and power. His desire was Sam, keep her safe, keep her alive, save her, don't leave her…_Kill them!_

He screamed so loud his throat could have ruptured, Vlad's eyes widened as the lashing green beast of green wrapped around his soldiers like coils, the scream echoing around the night fields eerily. The tension and light grew so intense that Sam had to squint at the display, all the fields were now lit up, and even the sky was tinted with the emerald power.

Sam watched, mesmerized as the beast's simply dissolved as they were touched. Then the green wave suddenly stopped and instantly vanished, she looked around wildly at why the sudden halt to the defying leap of power and energy.

And saw Danny was on his knees, trembling and trying to stand back up again with all his might. His groans were cut out by triumphant roaring and shrieking as Vlad's ghost army advanced happily. Even his marvelous display had only cut away a small fraction of the army, he could not stop them. She rushed to his side, her legs moving upon instinct

Even at the time of sudden panic they stared into each other's eyes

_All they'd been through_

_It was to end now_

His strong and defiant face was now weak, tears streaming non-stop down his face. She knew his every thought was directed at holding himself in life, for her. He was subjecting himself to all this torture for her. She felt guilty as the green loomed up in front of her, pounding footsteps and flapping wings.

"I won't let you die…" He muttered defiantly as always, and tried to stand. Her hands gently held him back, smiling a little

"Maybe we can only be together that way" She murmured, tears brimming in her violet eyes. His flickered bright emerald, then back to his normal electric blue. He sighed, cloak hanging over his shoulders roughly. The ghosts were within ten meters now, moments away from death

Sam closed her eyes, and expected death to grasp her

"Stop!" Vlad's voice rang out over the filled clearings. Sam opened her eyes, and saw Danny's head was hanging down, panting. His hands struggled to grip the ground and stand up, but they had no strength. She looked around, and ghosts of all kinds circled them. Before the kneeling pair was Vlad, perched upon his white dragon like a knight on horseback. He smiled keenly, and dismounted his ride with the utmost pride. She stared at him loathingly

"You two have been a_ thorn _in my side for ten years" Vlad hissed, stepping towards them lightly like mist, but a grin still played across his face as if enlightened. "But now I will finally be rid of you"

He stared at Sam and smirked

"_Her"_

Sam's arms were yanked back, she screamed a little but a scaly hand wrapped itself around her mouth tightly like a wisp. Her eyes widened as her arms were pinned and she was yanked into the breast of a scaled ghost. Danny shouted and tried to stand, but staggered back, and another ghost caught him, and used the same technique. It occurred to Sam he could turn intangible, but she realized his energy was drifting away like smoke from a fire. He hung his head weakly, panting strongly but still holding onto life with all his might

Vlad strode over to Sam, and lifted her head with his skeletal finger with a grin. His vampiric smile sickened her, and she struggled yet again to be free. He smirked at her vein efforts and gave a coy grin

"I will kill her first-"

Danny's head shot up with a hateful and horrified stare, eyes flickering again

"-In front of your very eyes, and yes, it will be slow. A minute of agony for every _second _you ruined my own desires" He whispered. Sam gave a self-explanatory look of intense fear to Danny, who tried to turn intangible but could not due to his lack of energy. He tried to move his fists, but the slippery ghost tightened his arms and made his prisoner gasp.

Vlad gave a bored look at Danny, as if not satisfied by the efforts his prisoner was giving. "I do like the fashion statement though" Vlad muttered maliciously "But more constricting as a cape…" He fingered the material on Danny's cloak, ignoring the fact his eyes were now flickering green and blue so fast they looked like a disco light. Then he grasped it, and ripped it straight off his body violently. Danny did not resist, he kept glaring ferociously.

Sam got full view of his new attire now, and to her surprise his body hadn't developed as much as she had though. He was still as lithe as a snake, and his body looked agile in the thin black. The white D was still emblazed upon his chest as always, and his hair was now before his eyes. His boots, were the same as always, and he wore a belt with the familiar two daggers she saw the night she met him. Vlad stared at this and smirked

"Not very impressive" Vlad commented

"I'm happy to fucking disappoint you" Danny muttered angrily, trying to shake off his captor as his anger grew larger. Sam closed her eyes for a second, despair and pain gripping her. Vlad strode over to her, and immediately placed his hand to her face

His hand grew red and pulsed a shock through her bones

From her back, it seemed to shoot fire and ice through her muscles, bones and blood. Pain exploded through her and blooming red patterns appeared in front of her eyes. Her leg twitched, and she yelped. It lasted for at least a minute, then the pulses died away like ebbing waves. She panted hard, and stared across at Danny, who had seen the whole thing and was now trembling. Vlad withdrew his hand slowly and smiled

"It gets worse" He laughed

That was all Danny could cope with

He lashed out, only his arms becoming intangible, but enough to free him. His body was now not weighed down by a cloak, he moved freely, and smashed a fist into his foe's face. Vlad fell down for a second, taken unaware by Danny, who stood tall and angry, panting through fury. The ghosts screeched and prepared to overwhelm him but Vlad held up a gloved hand.

"- No…" He muttered, standing up with a smile. Sam tried to speak but could not through the scaly hand. Danny watched Vlad regain his balance with provoked harted flowing through him. The ghosts all watched uneasily, almost angered at being denied a kill. Vlad stared at him, tension hanging in the air like smoke

"You think you can fight me"

"_I know I can"_

Vlad's eyes narrowed and he swiftly darted forwards, his outline blurring like it was seen through water. Sam tried to free herself valiantly as Danny curved his body in an arc, dodging a well placed punch and crouching with the utmost agility. He flicked his hand at his belt, and swiped his dagger in an uppercut. Vlad stepped back with a smile as the slash missed him entirely, Danny's face contorted in anger. His teeth bared like a snarling dog

"Did I hurt your pride, boy?" Vlad said with a smile, swiftly smacking Danny's hand and making him miss his stab. Danny stumbled forwards, eyes glittering with malice. He became a wisp as Vlad shot back and tried to shove his elbow in Danny's face, but Sam saw the drained look becoming clearer on his face. Danny solidified, closing his eyes for a few moments and trying to regain his power. Vlad respectfully let him do so, simply looking at him with a smile.

"Tell me Danny" He muttered "What _is _it like to be dead?"

Danny didn't answer, but a green light was definitely visible from his hanging head.

"How does it feel?...Cold I suppose. I guess that makes us equals…" Vlad commented, cloak twirling in thre mist. Sam watched nervously as the ghosts snarled and watched intently, waiting for their master's whim. Danny lunged forwards, hands glowing bright green. Vlad phased through, but Danny anticipated this, he turned around as soon as Vlad turned solid again, and threw his knife forwards with powerful brutality. The knife was so precise Sam gasped, it flew like an arrow through the air, and lodged itself in Vlad's shoulder with a thick _thud_.

Vlad himself stared down in utter shock at the knife, then back up at Danny who's whole torso was heaving like a steam train. He did not smile, but a triumphant flicker settled in his green eyes, a satisifed desire residing inside him. This angered Vlad, he withdrew the knife and flipped it around his hand

He shot a glance at Sam and smirked

Danny's eyes widened as Vlad threw the knife

Sam closed her eyes, and waited for the knife to wedge itself into her forehead with precise accuracy. But instead she heard a swoosh, and not helping herself, opened her eyes and watched as Danny, moving at the speed of winds placed himself in front of the knife and it sank into his chest with the same sound it made when it hit Vlad. Unlike Vlad though, Danny gave a weak shout of pain and fell to his knees again.

Vlad knelt in front of him lightly, smiling as Sam began to thrash violently. Danny had his head hung, and arms limp again. He didn't resist as Vlad tugged Danny forward by his shirt, then ripped open his Danny Phantom outfit to see his bare chest

Sam gasped

A long cresent like burn/scar was engraved upon Danny's chest, a dark orange horrible mark that made her cringe even looking at it. The blade had dug straight into the center of it, but no blood dribbled down his chest as expected of such a wound

"I congratulate you for lasting this long, Fenton" Vlad murmured, lifting Danny's head and staring into his eyes. "But this is the end" He yanked the knife out hard and smiled at Danny's yell like it was music

He then lifted the knife high, ready to slam into Danny's lolling head

Sam screamed through the scaly hand

Suddenly a bolt shot the knife straight out of Vlad's pale hands. Both he, Sam, and the rest of his army looked around in shock as a voice spoke out

"I'm afraid you're wrong Vlad, this is only the beginning!" Jazz called, standing in front of at least a thousand raiders with a vicious smile, AEG clutched in her hands. Vlad frowned, vampiric teeth glittering. He released Danny's t-shirt and threw him sideways into the dirt, then stood up

"Kill them" Vlad told the ghosts, Sam was suddenly released and thrown next to Danny carelessly. She turned her head while she lay and watched as thousands collided and fought, then she looked back at Danny

"Danny" She whispered, crawling to his side with tears in her eyes

She was shocked as he sat up immediately, and locked her in a kiss

His hands gripped her so tight, like a promise he would never let go. She kissed back, crying a little at the same time. Lights and explosions danced around them in a chorus of pain, shouts and roars mingled together. He let go, eyes set on her like stone

"I will never ever forget you, Sam Manson" He swore to her, holding her hand and trying to smile. "But Vlad was right, this is the end. I'm going to close the portal betweent he ghost zone and earth"

She remainded silent

"When I do, every single ghost one earth will be sucked back in. Including me" He murmured sadly

"You don't have to, we can just kill them" Sam tried, tears welling in her eyes

"No, they will always come back. Like me" He smiled, and wiped a tear of her face

"We will see each other again, wont we?" Sam asked

"One day…" Danny trailed off. He smiled and gently kicked off into the air, flying gracefully back to the fortress

Sam stood up, wind blowing at her hair

_I may not get another chance_

"I LOVE YOU, DANNY PHANTOM!" She screamed over the winds, tears streaming down her face as cried.

He kept flying

But she knew he had heard her

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-αιвσυ

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	9. At Rest

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If anyone's still interested…. Yeah three months later -.-

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_**- Ten Long Years -**_

**Chapter 9**

**At Rest**

**.-.**

**-**

"_I love you, Danny Phantom…" _The soft voices whispered upon his ears, like she was right beside him again, smiling like she was when she was fourteen. Her long black hair dancing around him, flicking his face. Her young violet eyes, so filled with hope and love. She could have done so much with her life, they could have become so much…

He shook himself out of the daydream, colourful explosions dimming down behind him. The gray facility grew bigger, he dove down perfectly and phased through the wall. Vlad has been too cocky, he had withdrawn all his troops to the battlefield, the place was unguarded. He drifted through the facility slowly, carefully, not to trigger any lethal traps his nemesis may have left for him. The walls were eerie white, red panels and gray power boxes occasionally popping into view.

He flew past thick bolted doors, with only a small gap to breathe through. He phased through it, and once inside he winced at the smell. A heavy scent of sweat and blood invaded his nostrils, he gagged at the dark room and phased back to the hall, flying faster than before.

He was nervous, and afraid. He wondered how things would be once the green lights entirely consumed him, and he was a wisp, a shallow husk of what he formerly was. He drifted to a stop at a large grey door, as thick as a tree trunk. He phased through it with ease, and inside he saw it – the symbol, the _icon _of all his pain for the last ten years.

Silver and black spikes and twists of metal made an arc – and the arc held a green light, mist and swirls he had seen almost every week ten years ago. The doorway, the only doorway left – to the ghost zone. It almost glowed with pain and evil, he could feel it. He stared at it for an eternity, frozen in place, fear and excitement grasping him firm. He yanked himself free of it, he must act fast.

His eyes surveyed the room slowly, reading each control panel cryptically. He knew small fragments of these trivial things, things his father had babbled on about all through dinner. He remembered sitting there, his outcrop of black hair in his face, rolling his eyes frustrated – but now he would give anything to be back there, in the time when all was perfect and bright, and was not shrouded in darkness the way it was now.

He stepped forwards, boots clopping eerily in the empty hall. It was similar to his father's room, under the house. The day when he had stepped inside, and the chain of events following had left him standing here, tired and broken. He reached forwards, tears in his eyes

And slammed the button down

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Sam watched his figure disappear, and stood, her black hair wildly blowing in her face. She did not blink; she simply turned around, tears brimming in her eyes. She watched as Valerie, a ghost slayer from such a young age, smashed her gun into the gnarly jaws of a hawk-ghost. Her bright eyes on fire with rage as it writhed and tried to lunge at her. Jazz, standing tall on the rim of an AEG glider ship, firing with precise aim. Maddie and Jack, aiming their thermoses towards the ghosts and sucking them in with a frightening pace. Tucker, bashing his fists into the face of a wolf-ghost, all of them, they all had hope in Danny. They all had faith in him, and she could tell they were scared as hell he would let them down.

She didn't want him to, but she could feel the dread in her heart that she would never see him again. Tears ran down her face as the gold winds gathered on her night dress, she hardly felt it though. Her heart beat faster, she wanted to see him, just one last time, to hold him before it was too late.

She turned around, feet pounding on wet concrete and tears streaming down her face. She ran to him, as fast as her body would allow

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His fingers stretched forward, ready to hit the button that would end it all, the pain, and his life.

"Danny…" A voice whispered, no urgency, just a neutral whisper, almost like the voice of a fourteen year old girl.

He turned, his eyes shifting back to blue as they rest softly upon her. She was beautiful; she looked like an angel, put through so much torment and still standing half naked in her night dress. The tears were clearly visible on her face, he ignored everything, all his worries and fears, and he stepped forwards and embraced her. He felt her soft skin, and it almost made him shiver. She felt his scar, and it made her weep. His arms held her as if she was made of porcelain, and she gripped him so tight she would never let go.

"Sam…I have to end this. It is all my fault, It was my flaw…And I must pay the price"

He turned, his fingers trembling as they outstretched

He heard it, his keenly trained ears picking up the whistle of a blade. But he was too slow, his neck whipped around just in time to see a meter long blade stab right through Sam's waist and almost touch his chest. Blood dripped from the steady blade, but her face did not distort in shock. She just stared at him with those piercing violet eyes, the sword wrenched out with a sickening sound. She fell to her knees, still staring into his horrified eyes. She smiled, keeled over

And he heard her death rattle

"SAM!" He screamed, falling to his knees in the puddle of blood and grabbing her shoulders. He looked into her face, eyes gently closed as if she were sleeping. He tried to feel her pulse

Nothing

"Sam…Sam please, no…" He begged, shaking her as he wept. He watched a small line of blood trickle from her lips as an eerie laughter filled the room. Sam was dead, she was dead…_She's dead…_

"Such a beautiful young girl, what a pity that she must _die_" Vlad whispered, smirking as the pitter patter of blood drops fell from his sword. Danny lay her down, trembling as the tears stopped from his eyes. He slowly stood up, hands clenched into fists and eyes closed. He opened them a fraction and looked down at her, lying slack in a puddle of scarlet like a doll. He trembled harder with suppressed rage, and Vlad watched him, laughing sickly

"_You have caused us pain for the last time…" _He whispered, his voice emitting as two. Vlad raised and eyebrow as the room began to shudder, and a green glow began to radiate from the ghost hybrid.

"You are no match for me" Vlad assured him with a smile, his red eyes glittering. But he watched as Danny's entire body was engulfed in the green energy. The room shook as hard as it was about to crumble.

"_YOU WILL DIE WITH ME" _Danny shouted as two people, and the rage and pain that had filled him for ten long years was released. His whole body glowed green, as if he was radioactive, but his eyes, they shone like the sun with all its fire and glory. He stepped forwards, cracking the ground as he did. Vlad's eyes widened in surprise at his raw power

"Quite a trick there you have Fenton, but let's see it in action" Vlad lunged forward and Danny made no attempt to stop him. The sword collided with his gut

And shattered into a million pieces, which floated eerily in the air

And then a punch hit Vlad in the face, and he felt all the force and fury that Danny contained burst on him like a dam, he could feel his emotions as they touched, feel his endless sorrow. He flew back, and smashed into the metal wall and made a human sized dent. Vlad got up, teleported behind him, but speed of light reflexes grasped his arm and swung him into the other wall.

"_It is time" _Danny told him, and he tightened his fists and threw his arms behind him, and the whole word shook with his fury and pain. The battle fields outside froze, people and ghosts in mid punch watching as an entire facility began to crumble. Vlad watched, blood running down his mouth

"Impossible…" He whispered

As calm as could be Danny took in a breath, and let out such a horrible shout it made Vlad wince. A shout so full of agony it was heard miles away, it echoed around them and a green wave surged out around him. He was now on fire with emerald flame, and he stepped forwards, breathing out and in as loud as a furnace. Vlad fumbled back, but his hand gripped him by the front of his cloak and Danny brought him so close to his face, he could feel heat emanating from him.

"_I curse you, to an eternity of sorrow, like you have caused the rest of the world" _And Danny threw him forwards with such strength it could smash through a boulder, and Vlad hurtled into the ghost zone with an inhuman wail.

Danny let the fire die down, his head spinning. He stepped over the rubble of the crumbled ceiling and slowly bent to his knees. Placing his palms under her neck and calves he lifted Sam's dead body, and cradled her close to him as he stood. He reached out with one hand, eyes a pallid blue and he pressed the button down with his index finger

A swirling white light swallowed the earth

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Jazz raised her head as the light passed through her, it felt like someone had poured ice into her blood. Her eyes followed it as every ghost it touched writhed and shimmered out of existence. A few seconds later, the battlefield was empty, and she was embraced in Tucker's kiss. Maddie and Jack hugged each other dearly, and Valerie smiled

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_Ten years later _

Tucker stood tall, his arm wrapped around his wife, Jazz. They both smiled to each other as their six year old child played soccer in the streets below. The rubble had been cleared, and it was safe again. Not a word had been heard from ghosts for a beautiful ten years, another ten years, the way it was a long time ago. People drove to work in shabby little cars, but it was a peaceful scene. Tranquil and harmonies, and bathed in morning sunlight

No one knew what happed to Sam ten years ago, some say she died. Jazz didn't know for sure, but she smiled at the thought wherever she was – she was with Danny.

Laughter filled the streets as their child scored a goal

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_Right behind them, invisible to everyone stood Daniel Fenton, his lean twenty four year old body standing tall as the sunlight passed through him. He smiled to himself, calm blue eyes glittering as he surveyed the new world that had been formed. It was over, at last. He could finally rest_

_Sam grabbed his hand, her violet eyes glancing into his with a joyous grin. Together they stood, sunbeams dancing on their shimmering ghosts forms as the sun rose entirely and shone down upon them with a glorious display. They kissed each other on the lips and watched Jazz and Tucker do the same._

_For ten long years they had been apart_

_For ten long years they had been together again_

_And now they were ready to guard their world together for the rest of eternity_

_Fin._

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-αιвσυ

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Finally. lol


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